A McDonald’s located on Route 66 in Azusa, California, on April 1, 2024.
Robert Gauthier | Los Angeles Times | Getty Images
McDonald’s shares dropped in extended trading Tuesday after the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said an E. coli outbreak linked to McDonald’s Quarter Pounder burgers has led to 10 hospitalizations and one death.
The agency said 49 cases have been reported in 10 states between Sept. 27 and Oct. 11, with most of the illnesses in Colorado and Nebraska. “Most” sick people reported eating a McDonald’s Quarter Pounder, the CDC added.
One of the patients developed hemolytic uremic syndrome, which is a serious condition that can cause kidney failure. An older adult in Colorado died.
McDonald’s shares dropped about 7% in after-hours trading Tuesday.
In a statement Tuesday, McDonald’s said it is taking “swift and decisive action” following the E. Coli outbreak in certain states.
The company said initial findings from the ongoing investigation show that some of the illnesses may be linked to slivered onions — or fresh onions sliced into thin shapes — that are used in the Quarter Pounder and sourced by a single supplier that serves three distribution centers. McDonald’s has instructed all local restaurants to remove slivered onions from their supply and has paused the distribution of that ingredient in the affected area.
This map shows where the 49 people in this E. coli outbreak live.
Source: CDC
Quarter Pounder hamburgers will be temporarily unavailable in several Western states, including Colorado, Kansas, Utah and Wyoming, and portions of other states, McDonald’s said. It added that it was working with suppliers to replenish ingredients.
The majority of states and menu items are not affected by the outbreak, McDonald’s USA President Joe Erlinger said in a video. The company’s other beef products, including the cheeseburger, hamburger, Big Mac, McDouble and the double cheeseburger, are not affected, he added. Those sandwiches use a different type of onion product.
“We are working quickly to return our full menu in these states as soon as possible,” Erlinger said. “I hope these steps demonstrate McDonald’s commitment to food safety.”
Quarter Pounder hamburgers are a core menu item for McDonald’s, raking in billions of dollars each year. In 2018, McDonald’s launched fresh beef for its Quarter Pounders across most of its U.S. stores.
The CDC said the number of people affected by the outbreak is “likely much higher” than what has been reported so far. The agency said that is because many people recover from an E. coli infection without testing for it or receiving medical care. It also typically takes three to four weeks to determine if a sick patient is part of an outbreak, the CDC added.
E. coli refers to a group of bacteria found in the gut of nearly all people and animals. But some strains of the bacteria can cause mild to severe illness if a person eats contaminated food or drinks polluted water.
Symptoms, including stomach cramps, diarrhea and vomiting, usually start three to four days after swallowing the bacteria, according to the CDC. Most people recover without treatment after five to seven days.
There have been several past reported cases of E. coli at McDonald’s restaurants.
In 2022, at least six children developed symptoms consistent with E. coli poisoning after eating McDonald’s’ Chicken McNuggets Happy Meals in Ashland, Alabama. Four of the six children were admitted to a hospital after experiencing severe adverse effects.
“About an hour and a half before we hit Houston, they ask for if you’ve been on this cruise ship, could you raise your hand,” James Snell recounts from his flight.
All of the ill passengers were previously on a cruise. A total of 75 passengers flying on the plane were on that cruise.
Firefighters and paramedics met the passengers as they landed at George Bush Intercontinental Airport following the five-hour flight from Vancouver, British Columbia.
“Then all of a sudden, the flight attendant, she put on a mask, and the guy next to me is like, ‘What do you think’s going on?’ And I’m like, ‘Bro, I don’t know. You know? I mean, COVID, we’re all going to die.’ You know what I mean,” said Snell.
Three people were “evacuated” from the airplane, but no one was taken to the hospital.
According to the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) the plane landed around 6:30 p.m.
“Then firetrucks and ambulances started pulling up,” Snell said. “They didn’t hold us very long, maybe 45 minutes-ish.”
Passengers aboard the airplane say that the pilot and flight attendants alerted them that the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) is investigating the illness.
“This is where it got weird,” Snell said. “He [the pilot] got over the speaker, but he came out to us and he said, ‘Hey, in my 25 years of flying, I’ve never seen anything like this. We have been quarantined by the CDC. Nobody can exit the plane until the CDC lets us off.’”
After being let off the plane passengers were screened by paramedics from the Houston Fire Department.
“As soon as you got off, you got mobbed, wanting to know if you had any symptoms and did you want to be triaged,” Snell said. “But then they let us off and I thought, man, you’re letting us off in Houston airport. Like we’re going everywhere in the world. This is how it started the last time.”
The last time refers to the COVID-19 pandemic. It’s what he and other passengers thought they could be dealing with.
“We’re all trapped in this tube, and we’ve all lived through Corona. And I was just like, oh, come on. Not again,” Snell said.
KPRC2 asked the FAA, CDC, Houston Fire Department and United Airlines for information about which cruise ship the passengers who got sick were on and for the illness, but none of the organizations would provide further information.
According to information from the CDC, there have been seven outbreaks of illness on cruise ships this year.
Cruise Line
Cruise Ship
Sailing Dates
Causative Agent
Celebrity Cruises
Celebrity Summit
5/24-5/31, 2024
Norovirus
Princess Cruises
Sapphire Princess
4/5-5/7, 2024
Norovirus
Royal Caribbean International
Radiance of the Seas
4/8-4/22, 2024
Norovirus
Silversea Cruises
Silver Nova
3/31-4/16, 2024
E. coli
Holland America Line
Koningsdam
2/17-3/24, 2024
Norovirus
Cunard Line
Queen Victoria
1/22-21/6, 2024
Norovirus
Celebrity Cruises
Celebrity Constellation
1/3-1/12, 2023
Norovirus
The most recent is a norovirus outbreak on the Celebrity Summit cruise ship.
Norovirus is commonly known as the “stomach bug” and can lead to nausea, vomiting and diarrhea. It’s a highly contagious virus, but is typically not a severe illness and passes in a few days, the CDC reports.
According to Celebrity Cruises’ website, the Celebrity Summit ship is currently sailing between Seward, Alaska and Vancouver, British Columbia.
Vancouver is where the United Airlines flight full of sick passengers took off.
KPRC2 asked Celebrity Cruises for more information about their outbreak and if it’s connected to the sick passengers that landed in Houston. We’re still waiting for an answer.
Meanwhile, United Airlines tells KPRC2′s Gage Goulding that the plane is being pulled from rotation until it can be deep cleaned.
UNITED AIRLINES STATEMENT
“Several passengers who had been on the same cruise and did not feel well were on United Flight 1528 from Vancouver to Houston tonight. United Airlines is actively coordinating with health authorities to address the situation. As a precautionary measure, the aircraft will be removed from service and go through a deep cleaning before returning to service. Ensuring the health and safety of our passengers and crew remains our top priority.”
KPRC2 asked the CDC for additional information. A spokesperson for the nation’s top disease agency said they would not provide an update until Monday.
This is a developing story. Stay with KPRC2 for updates.
Copyright 2024 by KPRC Click2Houston – All rights reserved.
As bird flu spreads among cows in the U.S., the CDC plans to publicly post data on a specific influenza virus found in wastewater. Dr. Celine Gounder, CBS News medical contributor and editor-at-large for public health at KFF, joins to break down the latest developments in tracking the virus.
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U.S. pregnancy-related deaths have fallen back to pre-pandemic levels, new government data suggests.
About 680 women died last year during pregnancy or shortly after childbirth, according to provisional CDC data. That’s down from 817 deaths in 2022 and 1,205 in 2021, when it was the highest level in more than 50 years.
COVID-19 seems to be the main explanation for the improvement, said Donna Hoyert, a Centers for Disease Control and Prevention maternal mortality researcher.
The coronavirus can be particularly dangerous to pregnant women. And, in the worst days of the pandemic, burned out physicians may have added to the risk by ignoring pregnant women’s worries, experts say.
Fewer death certificates are mentioning COVID-19 as a contributor to pregnancy-related deaths. The count was over 400 in 2021 but fewer than 10 last year, Hoyert said.
The agency on Thursday released a report detailing the final maternal mortality data for 2022. It also recently released provisional data for 2023. Those numbers are expected to change after further analysis — the final 2022 number was 11% higher than the provisional one. Still, 2023 is expected to end up down from 2022, Hoyert said.
The CDC counts women who die while pregnant, during childbirth and up to 42 days after birth from conditions considered related to pregnancy. Excessive bleeding, blood vessel blockages and infections are leading causes.
There were about 19 maternal deaths for every 100,000 live births in 2023, according to the provisional data. That’s in line with rates seen in 2018 and 2019.
But racial disparities remain: The death rate in Black moms is more than two-and-a-half times higher than that of white and Hispanic mothers.
“In the last five years we’ve really not improved on lowering the maternal death rate in our country, so there’s still a lot of work to do,” said Ashley Stoneburner, the March of Dimes’ director of applied research and analytics.
The advocacy organization this week kicked off an education campaign to get more pregnant women to consider taking low-dose aspirin if they are at risk of preeclempsia — a high blood pressure disorder that can harm both the mother and baby.
There are other efforts that may be helping to lower deaths and lingering health problems related to pregnancy, including stepped-up efforts to fight infections and address blood loss, said Dr. Laura Riley, a New York City-based obstetrician who handles high-risk pregnancies.
But there’s a risk that those kinds of improvements are being offset by a number of factors that may reduce the ability of women to get medical care before, during and after a birth, she said. Experts say the list includes the closure of rural hospitals and a 2022 U.S. Supreme Court decision that did away with the federally established right to abortion — and contributed to physician burnout by causing doctors to feel constrained about providing care during pregnancy-related medical emergencies.
“I think there’s good news. We’re making strides in certain areas,” said Riley, head OB-GYN at Weill Cornell Medicine. “But the bad news and scary news is … there are these other political and social forces that make this (reducing maternal deaths) difficult.”
A sick raccoon found in College Park, Maryland, tested positive for rabies on Monday, prompting an alert to report anyone that may have had contact with the wild animal to the Prince George’s County Health Department.
A sick raccoon found in College Park, Maryland, last week tested positive for rabies on Monday, prompting an alert urging anyone who may have had contact with the wild animal to reach out to the Prince George’s County Health Department.
A rabid raccoon was captured alive in the 5200 block of Iroquois Street on Thursday, April 11, but the rabies confirmation came five days later, according to a news release from the county’s health department.
Rabies is transmitted by saliva, usually spreading to people and pets that have been scratched or bitten by a wild animal, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
“Rabies is a life-threatening disease that is prevented by starting post-exposure treatment as soon as possible,” said county health officer Dr. Matthew Levy. “The best way to prevent exposure to rabies is to avoid contact with unfamiliar animals and ensure household pets are vaccinated for rabies. Community members should report unusual animal behavior and avoid handling or feeding unknown animals in their community”
The health department also recommends keeping a close eye on pets when they are outdoors and not leaving pet food outside. Rabies in humans can be prevented with four doses of the vaccine over 14 days.
About 900 Marylanders receive preventative treatment for rabies each year after exposure to rabid or potentially rabid animals, according to the county’s health department.
If you or someone you know was exposed to the rabid raccoon found in College Park, officials want you to call the county health department immediately at 301-583-3750, or 240-508-5774 after 4:30 p.m. on holidays or weekends.
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Q: Is one day isolation sufficient to stop forward transmission of COVID-19?
A: People with COVID-19 could potentially transmit it to others well beyond a day after developing symptoms or testing positive. New guidance from the CDC advises people to isolate until they have been fever-free and with symptoms improving for at least 24 hours, and then take precautions for five days, which covers the period when “most people are still infectious.”
FULL ANSWER
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on March 1 updated its guidance on preventing the spread of respiratory viruses, consolidating advice on a range of common respiratory illnesses including COVID-19, flu and respiratory syncytial virus, or RSV.
Since December 2021, the agency had recommended individuals isolate for at least five days after developing symptoms of COVID-19, or after a positive test if asymptomatic. After five days, the agency recommended various symptom-based criteria for leaving isolation combined with additional continued precautions, such as masking.
The new guidance drops the standard minimum of five days of isolation in favor of a symptom-based approach. The agency advises people to stay home and away from others when they are sick with a respiratory virus. People can cease isolation if, over a period of 24 hours, their overall symptoms have been improving and they have been fever-free without using fever-reducing medications.
Many people have had questions about what the new guidance means for people who have COVID-19. Some, like our reader, have referred to the idea that the guidance means only one day of isolation is needed. “do you agree with Biden that one day isolation for covid is fine and dandy??” asked one person on X, formerly known as Twitter.
But that’s not what Biden or the CDC is recommending.
“It’s not saying isolate for 24 hours,” epidemiologist Ronit Dalmat, a research scientist at the University of Washington, told us, referring to the CDC guidance. “It’s saying if you have a fever, absolutely stay home” until it has been gone for 24 hours, and also stay home until other symptoms are improving.
Nor does the CDC say people are guaranteed not to spread COVID-19 or other respiratory illnesses after their symptoms have improved. “Keep in mind that you may still be able to spread the virus that made you sick, even if you are feeling better,” the guidance says. “You are likely to be less contagious at this time, depending on factors like how long you were sick or how sick you were.”
The guidance recommends continuing to take precautions for five days after resuming normal activities. These include physical distancing, testing, improving air quality, using good hygiene and wearing a well-fitting mask, such as an N95 or KN95.
“The total number of days of precautions when sick, that is, a period of staying home and away from others plus 5 days of additional actions, covers the period during which most people are still infectious,” the CDC wrote in an FAQ.
“That whole period could be quite a while,” Dalmat said. “That could be 10 days for some people.”
The CDC said in background materials accompanying the new guidance that it looked at data from countries and states that had adopted similar policies for COVID-19 isolation and had not seen “clear increases in community transmission or hospitalization rates.”
“The updated guidance on steps to prevent spread when you are sick particularly reflects the key reality that many people with respiratory virus symptoms do not know the specific virus they are infected with,” the CDC said. The agency noted that its survey data indicated less than half of people with cold or cough symptoms would take an at-home COVID-19 test.
Some on social media have misinterpreted the guidance as an admission that it was always reasonable to liken COVID-19 to the flu, as was done early in the pandemic despite the marked difference in the diseases’ severity.
But the new CDC guidance acknowledges the continued seriousness of COVID-19 while also detailing the ways in which treatments, vaccines and population immunity have improved outcomes for people with the disease.
“COVID-19 remains a greater cause of severe illness and death than other respiratory viruses, but the differences between these rates are much smaller than they were earlier in the pandemic,” the CDC said. The agency explained that the risks are reduced due to the availability of COVID-19 treatments and population immunity to the virus, both from vaccination and prior infection. The agency also said that long COVID remains a risk, although the prevalence appears to be falling.
The Science on COVID-19 Transmission
Whether someone transmits COVID-19 depends on multiple factors. These include a person’s infectious viral load, but also the susceptibility of the people the infected person encounters and the precautions taken.
There’s no one-size-fits-all answer to how long a particular individual will shed infectious virus and how much they will shed. “Everybody has a slightly different ability to control the amount of virus in their system, which is a part of what makes the virus shed,” Dalmat said. Variation in how people’s bodies fight a virus affects “how much virus you are putting in the world that is infectious.”
There’s evidence that a relatively small number of people who shed particularly high levels of the virus over the course of their infections have been responsible for a disproportionate number of COVID-19 cases, and many people with COVID-19 do not infect others.
However, according to the CDC, the data on the typical overall length of shedding has not significantly changed, even as new variants of SARS-CoV-2 — the virus that causes COVID-19 — have arisen. “Even as the SARS-CoV-2 virus has continued to evolve, the duration of shedding infectious virus has remained relatively consistent, with most individuals no longer infectious after 8-10 days,” the agency said.
The CDC accompanied this statement with a figure showing data collected by the Respiratory Virus Transmission Network from five U.S. sites between November 2022 and May 2023 (see below). One line on the graph (light blue) shows how often researchers were able to isolate and grow — or culture — virus from people with COVID-19.
Trying to culture the virus that causes COVID-19 from a respiratory sample — a laborious process used in research — indicates whether someone is carrying infectious virus. The figure shows that the proportion of people with culturable virus began to increase two days before symptoms begin, or before a positive test for those who were asymptomatic, peaking around one to two days after symptom onset. After that, the rate began falling, with around one-third of people having culturable virus at day five. By day 10, the percentage had dropped to around 10%.
A different study, published in 2023 in the International Journal of Infectious Diseases, combined data from multiple studies done in people diagnosed with COVID-19 in 2021 and 2022. The average duration of shedding of culturable virus was just over five days from symptom onset or first positive PCR test, whichever came first.
Another metric for assessing infectiousness in people with COVID-19 is viral load, often measured as the amount of viral materials, such as RNA or proteins, found in a respiratory sample. A 2023 study published in Clinical Infectious Diseases found that median viral load for people diagnosed with COVID-19 peaked around three or four days after symptoms started. The study assessed people seeking testing for respiratory infections between April 2022 and April 2023.
Someone who is shedding infectious virus may or may not transmit it to others. One factor is that the average person is less susceptible to infection today than they were early in the pandemic, Dalmat said.
“Even if the person is producing the exact same amount of virus today as they could have three years ago, the people on the other end on average are less likely to get infected,” Dalmat said, explaining that today more than 98% of the population has had some exposure to COVID-19 itself, COVID-19 vaccines or both.
When people do get infected, the cases tend to be less severe.“Among the people who get infected with COVID these days, on average it is much rarer that it turns into a very serious illness,” Dalmat said, while also acknowledging that a lot of individuals “are still very vulnerable.” People at elevated risk for severe disease include those who are elderly or immune compromised.
While the CDC guidance harmonizes suggested precautions for COVID-19 and other common respiratory viruses, there are differences in the details of how COVID-19 and other respiratory viruses are spread.
The new guidance is meant to be a general rule of thumb but does not apply to health care settings or cases where there is an outbreak of a disease that requires special instructions, the CDC said. The CDC also said the agency is working on specific guidance for schools, which should be available prior to the 2024/2025 school year.
Masks, Tests and Other Precautions
Isolating from other people when sick is a key way to reduce one’s risk of spreading COVID-19. But the CDC guidance lists additional ways to reduce the chances of spreading a respiratory illness.
Masks can help prevent the wearer from spreading a respiratory virus. They can also protect others from inhaling a virus, particularly well-fitting masks such as N95 or KN95 respirators, the guidance says. Individuals can take measures to improve their hygiene and the air quality in their surroundings and maintain physical distance from others, such as by avoiding crowded spaces.
The CDC still recommends testing to help high-risk people who are sick determine whether to seek treatment for a specific virus. For instance, someone with COVID-19 may benefit from receiving Paxlovid within five days of when their symptoms start. The guidance also lists tests as a tool that can help people decide when they need to take precautions to avoid spreading disease.
At-home rapid antigen tests can be helpful for people who are recovering from COVID-19 and want to see if they still have infectious virus, Dalmat said. In their research, she and her colleagues found that among people who tested positive for COVID-19 on a rapid antigen test, subsequent negative antigen test results were “very, very highly correlated to whether you had infectious virus or not,” she said. That means people with COVID-19 who start to test negative on rapid antigen tests as they get better likely are no longer at risk of infecting others.
However, the CDC cautions that rapid antigen tests early in the course of a person’s infection often miss COVID-19. People who are sick should be taking precautions regardless of test results, Dalmat said. “They shouldn’t test and have a negative test be the end of it,” she said.
The authors of the Clinical Infectious Diseases study, which measured viral loads over the course of infection, wrote that “our data in combination with others’ suggest that symptomatic individuals testing positive for SARS-CoV-2 by PCR currently may not reliably test positive on a rapid antigen test until the third, fourth, or even fifth day of symptoms.”
The CDC guidance says people can end isolation when they have been fever-free and their symptoms have been improving for at least 24 hours. Dalmat cautioned that the definition of improving symptoms is somewhat ambiguous.
“Symptoms improving can mean different things to different people,” Dalmat said, adding that people should make sure their symptoms are truly getting better. “If your symptoms are not really improving – not kind of plateauing but really improving — you should continue to stay home and continue to take whatever measures you are taking in your household.”
Editor’s note: SciCheck’s articles providing accurate health information and correcting health misinformation are made possible by a grant from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. The foundation has no control over FactCheck.org’s editorial decisions, and the views expressed in our articles do not necessarily reflect the views of the foundation.
At least 41 cases of measles have been reported in the U.S. across 16 states so far this year, according to new weekly figures published Friday by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
This is up from 35 cases in 15 states reported to the CDC, as of Feb. 22. Michigan is the new state now included in CDC’s tally.
The figures mark one of the steepest increases in recent history of the virus at this time of the year. It comes as experts worry the country could face a repeat of 2019’s massive surge, which authorities at the time said could threaten the U.S. status of having eliminated the virus.
“That is not a good slope of the curve, in terms of where we’re going with measles,” Dr. Demetre Daskalakis, head of the CDC’s National Center for Immunization and Respiratory Diseases, said Feb. 29 to a panel of the agency’s advisers.
Federal officials have voiced growing concern in recent weeks over the climb in measles cases, which come as vaccination coverage has declined in many parts of the country.
A CDC spokesperson confirmed Feb. 28 that it was working to support investigators in Florida, which has reported the most infections this year. The CDC is offering genotype sequencing from its laboratory, which in the past has helped trace links between cases.
“We are a global community. As measles continues to increase in other parts of the world, these importations continue to happen. And when they land places where coverage is low, we are at risk for ongoing larger outbreaks,” he said.
Which states have reported measles cases in 2024?
Local and state health authorities have publicly discussed the details of at least 39 confirmed or suspected cases of measles across 16 states: Arizona, California, Florida, Georgia, Indiana, Louisiana, Maryland, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, New Jersey, New York City, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Virginia and Washington.
Pennsylvania was among the first states to report cases this year, with threeinfections reported from an outbreak that began there in 2023. On Feb. 27, authorities in Philadelphia announced the outbreak was officially over.
New Jersey also later confirmed a case of measles in a resident of a county bordering Philadelphia, though officials said they were unable to find a direct link to that outbreak or another route of exposure.
Missouri’s Clay County reported a measles case in a resident on Jan. 12 who the department said had traveled through Kansas City International Airport.
Virginia and Maryland each reported a case of measles in residents who had recently traveled through Dulles International Airport – one of the three major airports serving the Washington, D.C. region – following travel.
Georgia also reported a case of a resident on Jan. 18. A spokesperson for the state’s health department said the case had returned from a trip in the Middle East. A second case was later confirmed in an unvaccinated family member.
New York City has also reported two cases of measles in residents so far this year. Authorities in the city believe both were cases following international travel, and have not been directly connected to each other.
California has tallied two measles cases this year. One was in Los Angeles County, following a flight from Istanbul. The other was reported a day later in San Diego, also after international travel.
Ohio has confirmed at least four cases so far. The first was announced in the Dayton area by authorities in Montgomery County on Feb. 3, from a child who had recently traveled. Two more infections were later confirmed in nearby Miami County. A fourth case was later confirmed in Richland County near Cincinnati, which has not been linked to the other cases. A fifth potential case is being investigated, officials said on Feb. 20 in Clermont County.
Minnesota announced a case linked to international travel on Feb. 7 in Dakota County, near Minneapolis. Two more infections — in a sibling and a cousin of the original case — were later also confirmed in the state.
Arizona’s Maricopa County confirmed a measles case on Feb. 10 after international travel. Two more infections that authorities linked to the original case have since been reported by the same county, which spans Phoenix.
Florida has reported the most cases of any state so far this year, after at least seven elementary school students were infected at an elementary school in Broward County. Two more cases were reported in the same county, near Miami. The state’s records tally all nine of the cases in the county as having been infected in Florida. Another travel-related case was also announced on Feb. 23 in a resident of Polk County, between Orlando and Tampa.
Louisiana said on Feb. 21 that two residents in the greater New Orleans area were diagnosed with measles, after returning from a trip outside of the state.
Washington’s Spokane County also announced a case on Feb. 21. The county said their case was initially exposed to the virus out of the country.
Indiana reported a case on Feb. 24 in Lake County, near Chicago. Citing privacy concerns, the department has refused to release additional information.
Michigan’s health department announced a case on Feb. 23 in Oakland County, north of Detroit, which they said was “associated with international travel.”
What is driving the increase in measles cases in 2024?
Measles cases globally have been rising, with an increase in what the World Health Organization deems large or disruptive outbreaks in countries across the Eastern Mediterranean, Europe and Asia. The CDC has said this increased the share of unvaccinated travelers exposed to the virus and bringing it back to the U.S.
“We’re a little bit concerned we’re now in the same or similar position to what we see epidemiologically in the run up to that 2019 year, where suddenly we had this explosion of cases. And that’s what’s troubling us,” Natasha Crowcroft, the WHO’s senior technical adviser for measles and rubella, said Feb. 22 at a meeting of federal vaccine advisers.
Crowcroft warned efforts to catch up on measles vaccination rates have fallen behind other shots, she said, leaving more than half of countries at “high risk” of outbreaks this year.
“We’ve lost 7% in our coverage in low income countries. We’re already way behind in low income countries, but they’ve fallen even further,” said Crowcroft.
New outbreaks of measles have emerged in European countries that appeared to be ranking well in their overall rates of measles vaccinations, officials said, but harbored communities with dangerously large immunity gaps among younger children. That is different than in 2018 and 2019, when those countries saw many unvaccinated older children and adults infected too.
“What we’re currently experiencing really is the results of accumulation of susceptible children who were not reached by immunization programs that were impacted by the COVID pandemic,” said José Hagan of the WHO’s European arm.
Among health departments in the U.S., officials say greater awareness of the need for measles vaccinations before traveling abroad is also needed.
“People traveling to let’s say Africa or Southeast Asia may go to travel clinics and make sure they’re up to date on their immunizations, but travelers going to the European region, from the United States, don’t necessarily think that way,” said Christine Hahn, medical director for the Idaho Division of Public Health.
In 2023, Idaho faced its largest measles outbreak in decades after an unvaccinated resident was infected while traveling in Europe. Officials in Philadelphia say their large outbreak could also have been avoided by an immunization before travel.
“Our initial case, while too young to get routine vaccinations, would have been old enough to get an early vaccine for travel, and could have prevented our whole cluster had they done that,” said Shara Epstein of the Philadelphia Department of Public Health.
Alexander Tin is a digital reporter for CBS News based in the Washington, D.C. bureau. He covers the Biden administration’s public health agencies, including the federal response to infectious disease outbreaks like COVID-19.
Federal health officials are expanding a warning about salmonella poisoning tied to charcuterie meat snack trays sold at Sam’s Club and Costco stores.
At least 47 people in 22 states have been sickened and 10 people have been hospitalized after eating Busseto brand and Fratelli Beretta brand meats, officials with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said Thursday.
The CDC had previously warned about one recalled lot of Busseto brand charcuterie sampler trays, but the agency now advises retailers and consumers not to eat, serve or sell any lots of the foods. They include the Busseto charcuterie sampler sold at Sam’s Club and the Fratelli Beretta brand Antipasto Gran Beretta products sold at Costco.
This combination of photos provided by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on Jan. 5, 2024 shows different views of a Busseto charcuterie sampler with prosciutto, sweet sopressata and dry coppa.
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention via AP
The meat trays come in twin packs that include prosciutto, sweet soppressata, and dry coppa or black pepper-coated dry salami, Italian dry salami, dry coppa, and prosciutto.
Salmonella poisoning can cause severe illness, particularly in young children, older people and those with weakened immune systems. In rare cases, the bacterial infection can be fatal.
The CDC says in addition to not eating the items, consumers should throw them away and wash surfaces and containers that may have touched the using hot soapy water or a dishwasher.
The agency also advises that consumers call their healthcare provider right away if they have any of these symptoms of severe Salmonella poisoning: diarrhea and a fever higher than 102°F, diarrhea for more than three days that is not improving, bloody diarrhea, so much vomiting that you can’t keep liquids down, and signs of dehydration such as not urinating much, dry mouth and throat and feeling dizzy when standing up.
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It’s COLD. We’re talking dangerous cold. Cold that might rob you of the tips of your nose, ears, chin, fingers or toes if you’re not careful. Called frostbite, it happens when the skin and the tissue under the skin freezes, which can happen much more quickly than you might imagine.
Frostbite is not only dependent on the outside temperature. It’s also affected by the wind chill factor. As the speed of the wind increases, our bodies cool at a faster rate, causing the skin temperature to drop. Higher altitudes can also increasethe speed at which skin can freeze.
The National Weather Service has created a wind chill chart that shows the time it might take to develop frostbite at varying temperatures and wind speed. The index was tested on human face models.
For example, if it were zero degrees Fahrenheit (minus 17.8 degrees Celsius)and calm, your chance of frostbite would be relatively low. Add wind at 15 miles per hour, and it would take 30 minutes before frostbite set in. If the wind rose to over 50 miles per hour, it would take a mere 10 minutes for frost to bite.
Your skin would freeze in a scant five minutes if you were out in minus 25 degrees Fahrenheit (minus 31.7 degrees Celsius) with a wind speed of just over 25 miles per hour.
You are more susceptible to frostbite if you smoke, take medications called beta-blockers, have poor blood supply to the legs, or have diabetes or Raynaud syndrome, a condition in which strong emotions or cold temperatures cause blood vessels to spasm and block blood flow to extremities.
Older people and people who live outside without proper clothing, heating and food are also at high risk, as are hikers and hunters who aren’t properly clothed and stay outdoors too long.
The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention also warns that anyone who drinks excess alcohol or uses illicit drugs is at high risk(see the CDC’s graphics below for more information). While you may feel like your body is warmer, your core temperature and blood pressure actually drop.
And of course, you are more likely to get frostbite if you aren’t dressed properly for the weather. The CDC has a visual chart that shows the critical areas to keep covered in extreme cold.
First degree frostbite: The first stage of frostbite is often called “frostnip” and begins with redness and a pins-and-needles feeling. Get out of the cold quickly at this time to avoid further damage to the skin.
A mild nip on your bodycould be warmed up with your own body heat; try sticking those fingers into your armpit, for example. Rewarm those red toes with a soak in warm — never hot ± water for up to 30 minutes. Since you won’t be able to tell with those zapped toes, test the water with another part of the body to be sure it’s comfortable. Rewarm ears, nose and cheeks with warm cloths; resoak and reapply repeatedly.
Be prepared for a bit of pain as the frostbitten areas come back to life. You’ll know when warming is complete when the skin is soft and all feeling has returned. But don’t use stoves or warming pads, the CDC warns. Those numb bits can’t tell the temperature, and they could easily burn as they warm up.
Second degree frostbite: Superficial frostbite is the second stage. It’s known as second-degree frostbite and begins when your skin begins to turn pale white or grayish-yellow instead of red. It might even begin to appear blue. Crystals of ice are beginning to form in the skin, and it may become hard and numb to sensation. Some people say it feels “waxy.”
Because the pain and redness are subsiding, unfortunately, people often don’t realize what is happening to them. But soon, the skin might warm and begin to swell, which is a sign that damage to tissue is occurring. This is the time at which prompt medical treatment is needed to prevent further, more serious damage.
Immediate rewarming is key, but it should be done carefully by trained medical professionals, who will immediately wrap the injured area to protect it. At times, blisters filled with fluid can develop, and the skin can sting, burn and swell dramatically.
Third degree frostbite: Deep frostbite is the next stage, in which the skin can appear blue and mottled, and numb to pain and cold. Blood-filled blisters can form. Muscles next to the area might fail to work properly. At this point you are in danger of blood clots and will need anticlotting medications to increase blood flow to the area.
Medical attention is crucial at this stage to avoid amputation of the injured tissue. Depending on the severity of the injury, the tissue can look black and feel hard after it’s rewarmed. If the tissue has died, a process called gangrene,then the dead areas may have to be excised or amputated. At times, there can also be long-lasting damage to muscles, tendons, nerves and bones in the area.
If medical care isn’t immediately available, wrap the affected areas in sterile dressings, carefully separating injured fingers and toes from each other. But try to move the affected areas as little as possible to avoid further tissue damage.
If a frostbitten area is warmed and then refrozen, damage can be even more severe. According to the US National Library of Medicine, if refreezing is a possibility, it might be best to delay the initial warming process until a warm location can be found. Warm drinks are best for replacing lost body fluids.
Two more warnings from the CDC: Don’t rub with snow or otherwise massage any frostbitten areas. You’ll just make any tissue damage worse. The same applies to walking on frostbitten feet or toes, so avoid that unless absolutely necessary.
Here’s a look at mpox, formerly known as monkeypox, in the United States. In 2022, an outbreak was declared a public health emergency of international concern by the World Health Organization (WHO). The virus originated in Africa and is the cousin of the smallpox virus.
In November 2022, WHO renames the monkeypox virus as mpox after working with International Committee on the Taxonomy of Viruses (ICTV) to rename the the virus using non-stigmatizing, non-offensive social and cultural nomenclature.
Mpox is a poxvirus. It generally causes pimple- or blister-like lesions and flu-like symptoms such as fever. The disease is rarely fatal.
Mpox spreads through close contact. This includes direct physical contact with lesions as well as “respiratory secretions” shared through face-to-face interaction and touching objects that have been contaminated by mpox lesions or fluids. The virus may also pass to a fetus through the placenta.
Anyone can become ill from mpox, but the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) says that more than 99% of mpox cases in the United States in the 2022 outbreak have been among men who have sex with men. However, mpox is not generally considered a sexually transmitted disease.
Mpox is usually found in West and Central Africa, but additional cases have been seen in Europe, including the United Kingdom, and other parts of the world in recent years. Those cases are typically linked to international travel or imported animals infected with the poxvirus.
July 16, 2021 – The CDC and local health officials in Dallas announce they are investigating a case of mpox in a traveler from Nigeria. “The individual is a City of Dallas resident who traveled from Nigeria to Dallas, arriving at Love Field airport on July 9, 2021. The person is hospitalized in Dallas and is in stable condition,” the Dallas County Department of Health and Human Services says in a statement.
May 26, 2022 – CDC Director Dr. Rochelle Walensky announces that the United States is distributing the vaccine to states with reported cases and recommends vaccination for people at highest risk of infection due to direct contact with someone who has mpox.
June 22, 2022 – The CDC announces a partnership with five commercial laboratories to ramp up testing capacity in the United States.
June 23, 2022 – New York City launches the first mpox vaccination clinic in the United States.
July 22, 2022 – Two American children contract mpox – a first in the United States. According to the CDC, the two cases are unrelated.
July 23, 2022 – WHO declares mpox a public health emergency of international concern, “an extraordinary event that may constitute a public health risk to other countries through international spread of disease and may require an international coordinated response.”
August 2, 2022 – An mpox response team is created by the Biden administration. President Joe Biden names Robert Fenton from the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) as the White House national mpox response coordinator.
August 2, 2022 – A report from Spain’s National Institute for Microbiology indicates two men, ages 31 and 44, who died from mpox in unrelated cases had both developed encephalitis, or swelling of the brain, which can be triggered by viral infections. Encephalitis is a very rare condition known to be associated with mpox. It has been reported in people with mpox in West Africa and in a patient in the United States in 2003 during the small outbreak linked to imported prairie dogs.
August 5, 2022 – A report published by the CDC finds that 94% of cases were among men who had recent sexual or close intimate contact with another man. Further, 54% of cases were among Black Americans and Latinos.
August 9, 2022 – In an effort to stretch the limited supply of the Jynneos mpox vaccine, federal health officials authorize administering smaller doses using a different method of injection. The new injection strategy allows health-care providers to give shallow injections intradermally, in between layers of the skin, with one-fifth the standard dose size instead of subcutaneously, into the fatty layer below the skin, with the larger dose.
August 18, 2022 – The White House announces the acceleration of the HHS vaccine distribution timeline, with an additional 1.8 million doses of the Jynneos vaccine being made available. Additional vaccines will be distributed to communities hosting large LGBTQI+ events.
The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is warning travelers to Baja California, Mexico, about Rocky Mountain spotted fever, a potentially fatal bacterial disease that spreads through the bite of an infected brown dog tick, which can be carried by pets.
The warning comes after a San Diego, California, resident who traveled to Baja California died last month after contracting the disease, San Diego County Public Health Services reported.
In addition to Baja California, RMSF has been found in the Mexican states of Sonora, Chihuahua, Coahuila and Nuevo León.
In the level 1 travel advisory issued Friday, the CDC urged travelers who develop symptoms of RMSF during travel, or within two weeks of returning to the U.S., to seek medical attention.
Symptoms of RMSF include fever, headache, and rash, which can develop two to four days after the onset of symptoms, according to the CDC.
The disease can progress quickly in infected patients and can become deadly if not treated early with the antibiotic doxycycline. Children under 10 years of age are five times more likely to die from RMSF, the CDC said.
San Diego County public health officials said the last time someone from San Diego died from RMSF was in 2014.
Peaches, plums and nectarines distributed by HMC Farms and sold nationwide as recently as last week are being recalled due to an outbreak of listeria that has resulted in 11 illnesses, including one death and 10 hospitalizations, federal safety regulators said Monday.
“Investigators are working to determine if any additional fruit or products made with this fruit may be contaminated,” the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention stated in a food safety alert.
Kingsburg, California-based HMC Farms is recalling peaches, plums and nectarines sold between May 1 and November 15 of this year as well as as during the same period in 2022, the company said in a notice posted Friday by the Food and Drug Administration. The FDA found listeria in testing a sample of HMC Farms peaches in late October, the CDC said.
Sold around the U.S. by retailers including Walmart and Sam’s Clubs, the recalled fruit may be contaminated with listeria monocytogenes, an organism that can cause serious and at times fatal infections.
As of Nov. 17, the people sickened in the listeria outbreak reside in seven states: California, Colorado, Florida, Illinois, Kansas, Michigan and Ohio, according to the CDC. One person died in California and another became sick while pregnant and had preterm labor, the agency noted.
Listeria infections can cause serious, and sometimes fatal, illness in young children, frail or elderly people, as well as others with weakened immune systems, according to the CDC. Healthy people may experience symptoms including high fever, severe headache and stomach pain. The organism can also cause miscarriages and stillbirths.
Image of fruit recalled by HMC Farms due to listeria concerns.
U.S. Food and Drug Administration
U.S. Food and Drug Administration
Image of recalled product.
U.S. Food and Drug Administration
The recalled fruit was sold in 2-pound bags branded “HMC Farms” or “Signature Farms,” or as individual fruit that has a “USA-E-U” code and a number, as follows:
Yellow peach: 4044 or 4038
White peach: 4401
Yellow nectarine: 4036 or 4378
White nectarine: 3035
Red plum: 4042
Black plum: 4040
The recall does not include organically grown fruit, the company and CDC noted (See images of all of the recalled fruit products here).
Consumers should check their homes, including their freezers, for the recalled fruit and discard it, agency said. Anyone with questions can call the company at (844) 483-3867, Monday-Friday from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. Eastern time.
A listeria outbreak linked to peaches, plums and nectarines has sickened 11 people in seven states, and one person has died, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The CDC estimates there are 48 million cases of foodborne illness in the U.S. every year.
For Meghan Elarde, a case of food poisoning turned her into a cautious shopper.
“I got so violently ill. It was frightening,” she told CBS News.
She said the experience caused her to become “way more concerned” about her groceries. Now, she buys hydroponic lettuce — leaves that are grown in water instead of soil — from Tom’s Market in Warrenville, Illinois.
“I buy it because it is grown in a controlled environment,” she said. “I like it. There’s no pesticides added. There’s not a million people touching it and messing with it.”
Elarde used to buy bagged lettuce, which, along with other leafy greens, is number one on Consumer Reports’ 10 Risky Recalled Foods list due to the number of illnesses, outbreaks and recalls they’ve been linked to.
“Bagged lettuce has been through a lot of steps before it gets to you,” Sana Mujahid, a food microbiologist and Consumer Reports’ director of food safety, told CBS News. “It’s grown in a field. It’s taken through a processing plant. It’s cut up. It’s bagged. So, there are a lot of chances for contamination.”
The same applies to pre-cut fruit, so Mujahid recommends buying whole fruit and cutting it yourself.
Cheese and deli meats, ground beef, onions, turkey, chicken, papaya, peaches, melon and flour also made it onto Consumer Reports’ list of risky foods.
If a melon’s rind comes in contact with contaminated irrigation water, when cut it can transfer to the fruit. Experts say to avoid bruised onions and produce because bacteria can enter and cause gastrointestinal issues, which can be serious for the immunocompromised.
More than 3,000 die from foodborne illness every year, according to the CDC.
Experts say it’s also important to be aware of recalls and to prepare your food with care.
Janet Shamlian is a CBS News correspondent based in Houston, Texas. Shamlian’s reporting is featured on all CBS News broadcasts and platforms including “CBS Mornings,” the “CBS Evening News” and the CBS News Streaming Network, CBS News’ premier 24/7 anchored streaming news service.
ATLANTA—Providing a sense of hope about the gun violence epidemic, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention released a new study Wednesday that found there were still a bunch of kids in the United States who had not been shot yet. “We reviewed the data, and yeah, it turns out there’s a ton of kids who’ve never had a single bullet wound,” said CDC director Mandy Cohen, who breathed a sigh of relief at a press conference as she shared the encouraging news with reporters. “Pretty great, huh? Yeah, I was surprised too, but there are children all over this country who have never experienced the sensation of being shot with a firearm. Ideally, no kids would be shot, but it’s important to look on the bright side of the data. Plenty of young people haven’t even been grazed yet.” Cohen added that, for the time being, there were still some American children out there who hadn’t so much as witnessed a shooting.
Scientists Announce Earth’s Core Can Play Blu-Rays
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported on Friday that flu cases are low nationwide, but more could arise in the upcoming weeks.
“Even these low levels will probably increase in the next couple of weeks,” said Alicia Budd, head of the CDC’s domestic influenza surveillance team, according to NBC News.
The CDC report shows that by the end of last week, most states in the U.S. had low or minimal flu-related hospital visits. The CDC also has not detected an early rise in flu activity this year as it had last year, NBC News reported.
But this week, the agency reported an increase in the number of respiratory illness-related hospitalizations. Between May 21 and Oct. 7, the percentage of hospital visits for respiratory illness increased for people ages 0 to 4 years old and 5 to 24 years old, and remained stable for other age groups, according to the CDC report.
“Given what we saw last year, vaccinating kids is really important to prevent them from getting sick, prevent them from being hospitalized and having the most severe outcomes,” said Danielle Iuliano, senior research epidemiologist at the CDC, according to NBC News.
The influenza virus is one of several viruses that contribute to respiratory illnesses, such as COVID-19 and respiratory syncytial virus, or RSV, according to the CDC.
According to ABC News, COVID-19 hospitalizations consistently ticked up in recent months, but are now on the decline nationwide. A CDC spokesperson told HuffPost that RSV-related hospitalizations are increasing among infants, who are susceptible to the virus. Data from WastewaterSCAN indicates that influenza, COVID-19 and RSV are starting to spread at low levels.
Many hospitals in New York, California and Massachusetts recently restored their mask mandates following the uptick in COVID-19 cases, The New York Times reported. The CDC is recommending that people 6 months and older get a flu shot and COVID-19 booster shot this fall. RSV vaccines are also available for older adults and those who are pregnant.
Doctors should weigh prescribing some of their patients a pill of a powerful antibiotic, doxycycline, to prevent the spread of sexually transmitted infections, according to new draft recommendations released Monday by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Officials say the approach, dubbed doxycycline post-exposure prophylaxis, or Doxy-PEP for short, could mark a turning point in the nation’s fight against the ongoing epidemic of sexually transmitted infections, or STIs.
It comes after growing early research has found that doxycycline could prevent bacterial infections from taking root when taken in the days soon after potential exposure during sex, instead of reserving pills of the antibiotic only for doctors treating diseases after they are diagnosed.
“It’s going to take game-changing innovations for us to turn the STI epidemic around. And Doxy-PEP is the first major new prevention intervention we have for STIs in decades,” Dr. Jonathan Mermin, head of the CDC’s National Center for HIV, Viral Hepatitis, STD, and TB Prevention, said in an interview.
Mermin, who co-authored the draft, estimated that implementation of their Doxy-PEP recommendations could lead to tens of thousands of infections prevented.
The recommendations will remain open for comments for 45 days. After incorporating that feedback, Mermin said he expects a final version to be published in the first quarter of next year.
“We think this is the right step right now, even though science is still evolving,” he said.
Who should take Doxy-PEP?
For now, the CDC’s draft recommendations for offering the antibiotic are limited to the groups of Americans hardest hit by the STI epidemic: gay, bisexual and other men who have sex with men, as well as transgender women.
Among those communities, the CDC further narrowed the scope of its recommendation to those who have been diagnosed in the past year with at least one STI caused by bacteria, such as gonorrhea, chlamydia or syphilis. Others could be considered based on participating in events that raise the risk of exposure to STIs.
For people who the agency estimates “would benefit the most” from Doxy-PEP, the agency will tell doctors that prescribing a 200 mg dose of doxycycline “should be considered” for patients to take as soon as possible — no more than 72 hours — after oral, vaginal or anal sex.
What’s known about how the antibiotic works suggests that Doxy-PEP “should be effective in other populations” as well, the agency acknowledges. However, the CDC stopped short of making a firm recommendation for or against offering it to a broader range of Americans.
A randomized trial in cisgender women had failed to show a benefit, though follow-ups suggested the results may have been muddied by many participants not actually taking the antibiotic. More data is needed before deciding on broad recommendations, officials concluded.
“The decision could still be made to take Doxy-PEP to prevent STIs. If that’s done, we do recommend that they follow the same recommendations and processes that we put into place for others. So we’re not saying don’t do it,” said Mermin.
How long will it take to roll out Doxy-PEP?
The CDC’s draft comes as a growing number of health departments and sexual health clinics have already moved to start offering Doxy-PEP on their own.
“There is not a lot of money in STI care, prevention and research. So this development is profound for our field. And the community has already been working hard to implement Doxy-PEP and clinicians in some public health clinics are prescribing this widely,” said David Harvey, executive director of the National Coalition of STD Directors.
Harvey’s group lists 10 agencies and organizations that have already published policies and guidance on Doxy-PEP, including state health departments in California, Michigan and New Mexico.
Many more are still “desperately eager” for CDC to officially weigh in, Harvey said, and could begin offering prescriptions quickly once the guidelines are made official. An official recommendation from the CDC could also clear the way for ensuring coverage of the costs of the pills through public health budgets and insurance companies, he said.
“The good news about doxycycline though is that it is a fairly cheap drug. It’s a drug that’s been around for a long time. So this is unlike what we see with some HIV medications that are very, very expensive,” Harvey said.
What are the risks of Doxy-PEP?
Harvey cautioned that implementing Doxy-PEP would not be without its costs for clinics.
The guidance suggests doctors can “prescribe enough doses of doxycycline to last until the next follow up visit.”
A list of considerations attached to the recommendation include a plea for doctors to assess for side effects that use of Doxy-PEP could be causing, as well as to screen every 3 to 6 months for the possibility of breakthrough infections.
“Larger evaluations can sometimes show negative outcomes that have been missed in smaller randomized trials. So we are going to be continuing to monitor and evaluate the implementation of Doxy-PEP over time,” said Mermin.
Officials have also wrestled with the concern that Doxy-PEP could raise the risk of bacteria developing resistance to the antibiotic.
At a meeting hosted by the National Association of County and City Health Officials last year, experts warned it was possible widespread Doxy-PEP use could also lead to “collateral damage” in raising resistance for other pathogens beyond STIs as well.
The CDC is planning multiple efforts to track real-world implementation of Doxy-PEP, Mermin said, including monitoring for drug resistance.
“Given the gaps in science, long-term monitoring, evaluation and additional studies will be key for us to update the guidelines as needed. There are important questions that remain regarding potential risks,” said Mermin.
The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention have recommended the first-ever vaccine designed to protect infants from respiratory syncytial virus. The CDC said the Pfizer vaccine should be taken during weeks 32 and 36 of pregnancy.
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A health-care worker prepares a dose of the Pfizer-BioNTech Covid-19 vaccine at a vaccination clinic in the Peabody Institute Library in Peabody, Massachusetts, Jan. 26, 2022.
The new vaccines, which target the omicron variant XBB.1.5, are approved for people 12 and older and are authorized under emergency use for children 6 months through 11 years old, according to an FDA release.
The updated vaccines from Pfizer and Moderna won’t be available to Americans just yet.
A CDC advisory panel is scheduled to meet Tuesday to vote on a recommendation on the use of those jabs. After the CDC director signs off on those recommendations, the shots can be administered at pharmacies, health clinics and other vaccine distribution sites.
The Biden administration said in August that it expects new single-strain vaccines from Pfizer, Moderna and Novavax targeting XBB.1.5 to be available to the public in mid-September.
The FDA did not announce a decision Monday on an updated Covid shot from Novavax, but the company said in a statement that the agency is still reviewing its vaccine. Shares of Novavax closed nearly 13% lower Monday following the approval of the other updated jabs.
Novavax’s vaccine uses protein-based technology, a decades-old method deployed in routine vaccinations against hepatitis B and shingles. Meanwhile, Pfizer’s and Moderna’s shots use messenger RNA, which teaches cells how to make proteins that trigger an immune response against Covid.
The upcoming arrival of updated vaccines offers some reassurance to Americans as the nation sees an increase in Covid cases and hospitalizations.
While the shots do not target the variants dominant now, the vaccine makers have said the shots will still offer protection against those strains as children return to school and the weather gets cooler.
“We expect this season’s vaccine to be available in the coming days, pending recommendation from public health authorities,” Pfizer CEO Albert Bourla said in a release following the approval.
Bourla and Moderna CEO Stéphane Bancel, in a separate statement, urged Americans to receive their updated Covid shot during the same appointment as their annual flu shot.
Hospitalizations have increased for seven straight weeks, and rose more than 15% for the week ending Aug. 26, to 17,418, according to the latest data from the CDC. But that number remains below the surge the nation saw in summer 2022, when hospitalizations climbed to more than 40,000.
The uptick is fueled by newer — but closely related to XBB.1.5 — strains of the virus such as EG.5, or Eris. That omicron strain accounted for 21.5% of all cases as of Sept. 2, according to the CDC.
Meanwhile, XBB.1.5 is declining in the U.S., the CDC said.
A resident receives a Covid-19 booster shots at a vaccine clinic inside Trinity Evangelic Lutheran Church in Lansdale, Pennsylvania, U.S, on Tuesday, Apr. 5, 2022.
Hannah Beier | Bloomberg | Getty Images
Pfizer, Moderna and Novavax have released early trial data indicating their new shots provide protection against Eris.
Both Pfizer and Moderna have also said their updated shots produced a strong immune response against BA.2.86, a highly mutated omicron subvariant that health officials are watching closely.
“The updated vaccines are expected to provide good protection against COVID-19 from the currently circulating variants,” the FDA said in the release Monday.
The agency noted that last year’s Covid boosters from Pfizer and Moderna are no longer authorized in the U.S.
The upcoming vaccine rollout will be the first since the end of the U.S. Covid public health emergency, which expired in May.
The end of that declaration means the federal government will shift vaccine distribution to the private market, where manufacturers will sell their updated shots directly to health-care providers at higher prices. Previously, the government purchased vaccines directly from manufacturers at a discount to distribute to all Americans for free.
Private insurers and government payers such as Medicare, which cover the vast majority of Americans, are expected to provide the vaccines to people for no fee. Federal efforts such as the Biden administration’s Bridge Access Program aim to provide free Covid shots to uninsured people.
The Biden administration will urge Americans to receive an updated Covid shot this fall, White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said last week.
“Vaccinations against Covid-19 remains the safest protection for avoiding hospitalization, long-term health outcomes, and death,” Jean-Pierre said during a briefing.
But it’s unclear how many Americans will actually roll up their sleeves to get another shot in the coming months.
Only around 17% of the U.S. population — around 56 million people — have received Pfizer’s and Moderna’s latest boosters since they were approved in September 2022, according to the CDC.
In early February 2020, Kirsten St. George and her team at New York state’s public health lab received a test developed by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to diagnose people infected with the new, rapidly spreading coronavirus.
But, like many labs around the country, it quickly found the test gave inaccurate results. So test samples had to be sent back to the CDC for processing, wasting time and leaving state officials “sort of blind to what the situation was with the disease,” said St. George, chief of the laboratory of viral diseases at the Wadsworth Center, one of the nation’s largest state public health labs.
“It was extremely unfortunate that it happened at such a critical time, in the early days of this emerging pandemic,” she said.
An independent panel of laboratory researchers, public health and policy experts, and doctors say the CDC’s flawed diagnostic test was one of the “most consequential” of the agency’s pandemic missteps because it stymied national efforts to contain COVID-19 as the disease spread.
Kirsten St. George is chief of the laboratory of viral diseases at New York’s Wadsworth Center, one of the nation’s largest public health labs. In February 2020, her team quickly found problems with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s original diagnostic test for COVID-19. “It was extremely unfortunate that it happened at such a critical time,” she says.
New York State Department of Health
They blame the test’s shortcomings on a series of problems rooted in how the CDC operated its laboratories: a lack of unified leadership for the labs developing the test; insufficient planning and quality control systems for producing tests for novel pathogens; and ineffective governance that sometimes placed clinical laboratory decisions in the hands of “non-laboratory experts” without diagnostic testing expertise.
The CDC says it’s working to address its liabilities, using the findings of that advisory committee as a guide. It’s a big job — one further complicated by new leadership at the agency, constrained resources, and continued antagonism and threatened budget cuts from members of Congress.
Failure to make sweeping changes could add to a growing lack of trust in the agency post-pandemic and threaten the nation’s preparedness for the next public health threat.
“If the CDC can’t change, their importance in health in the nation will decline,” said Jill Taylor, a senior adviser for the Association of Public Health Laboratories. “The coordination of public health emergency responses in the nation will be worse off.”
The CDC’s original COVID test had two key problems, according to an internal analysis in 2021 by a group of agency staff. A design flaw and contamination during production at the CDC led the tests to give false positive results.
The work group that later performed an independent postmortem on the development of the test, using information provided by the CDC, came to the same conclusions.
“It was all surprising to me,” said Joshua Sharfstein, a vice dean at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, who co-chaired the panel.
The panel concluded that these failures, fueled by problems within the agency, had human consequences.
“Lacking awareness of how rapidly and widely the virus was spreading, public health agencies were slow to recommend behavior changes or implement protective measures,” its February report said.
A few short weeks after the flawed tests were released, life across the U.S. would grind to a halt, with officials resorting to mass lockdowns to slow the spread of the virus that has killed more than 1.1 million Americans.
The advisory group made 10 recommendations for how the CDC could prevent future failures when developing diagnostic tests, such as consolidating all lab operations into a new center with its own leadership, separating research labs from those that develop clinical tests, and having independent, outside experts review tests made for pathogens with pandemic potential.
The agency began acting on some of those suggestions under the leadership of Rochelle Walensky, before she left her post as director in June, as part of the larger effort to overhaul the CDC. It instituted new agency-wide lab quality standards, started working to improve coordination with state labs, and established an internal review board to approve tests shared outside the CDC.
In July, Mandy Cohen took over as Walensky’s successor. Cohen held top leadership positions at the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services during the Obama administration but not within the CDC. Already, she has run into headwinds from Republican members of Congress, who influence the agency’s budget. Still, an agency spokesperson said these won’t be major challenges.
“Improvements to further strengthen CDC’s labs are well underway,” said CDC spokesperson Kevin Griffis. “Reforms will continue to move ahead at full speed.”
Other leaders within the agency said funding could prove a critical obstacle to instituting the recommended changes.
File photo of a sign at the the entrance to the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) in Atlanta.
AP Photo/David Goldman
Recommendations for the agency to physically separate its clinical labs from its research labs or to train researchers to uphold new quality standards will be heavy lifts because they require continuous funding, said Jim Pirkle, associate director for laboratory science and safety at the CDC.
“You can’t get one bolus of money, and then say, ‘OK, now that solves it till the end of time,’” he said. “The things that we’re talking about are things that we have to sustain.”
And money is only one piece of the puzzle, said the Association of Public Health Laboratories’ Taylor, who also co-chaired the advisory group.
A culture change will also be required, she said, in which scientists inside the CDC see themselves as part of the larger U.S. laboratory community, subject to the same quality standards.
The advisory group looking at the COVID test development found clinical lab decisions were made “by experts in basic science research rather than by certified clinical laboratory professionals.”
In addition, research and clinical work would happen in the same lab space, which made it hard to ensure quality standards for test development and “very easy to cut corners,” Taylor said.
“CDC has considered itself a bit special and not necessarily needing to follow the rules like everyone else does, and that’s a shame,” Taylor said.
Taylor said failure to implement the work group’s recommendations could force the CDC to cede ground to commercial lab companies in developing diagnostic tests for new disease threats.
While commercial labs can operate at larger scales than public health labs can, they are for-profit entities and motivated by the market.
In a recent article, leaders of the American Clinical Laboratory Association, an industry trade group, wrote that some lab companies delayed creating a COVID test until “clear signals that a testing market would materialize.”
The CDC does that work without worrying about making money, said Anne Schuchat, former principal deputy director of the agency. In other words, they develop a test “because there’s a new pathogen, and we need to know what’s going on,” she said.
As the COVID pandemic has shown, threats that might start small can quickly spread, take millions of lives, and cause years of global disruption.
Schuchat said the ability of the CDC to have the capacity to develop an accurate test to pinpoint novel pathogens and how they’re spreading is critical.
“Our protection depends on it,” she said.
KFF Health News, formerly known as Kaiser Health News (KHN), is a national newsroom that produces in-depth journalism about health issues and is one of the core operating programs at KFF — the independent source for health policy research, polling, and journalism.
