研究：辉瑞疫苗预防重症的有效性可至少维持六个月
文 / 陈慧璋
10/04/2021
（早报讯）对美国冠病病例进行的一项研究显示，接种两剂辉瑞-BioNTech冠病疫苗对预防重症的高度有效性可至少维持六个月。
法新社和路透社综合报道，该研究显示，接种辉瑞-BioNTech疫苗至少六个月后，该疫苗在预防住院和死亡方面的有效性仍维持在90%高位，即使面对高度传染性的德尔塔变种冠病病毒也是如此。
这项数据周一（4日）刊登在医学期刊《柳叶刀》上，此前未经同行评审前已在8月发布。
研究人员说，该数据表明疫苗的有效性下降是因为其效能减弱，而不是因为病毒的传染性更强。
辉瑞公司和非营利医疗系统凯撒医疗集团（Kaiser Permanente）对南加利福尼亚州约340万名居民的电子健康记录进行研究，其中约三分之一的人是去年12月至今年8月的冠病康复者。
辉瑞疫苗高级副总裁兼首席医疗官约达尔说：“我们的特异性病毒变体分析清楚表明，（辉瑞-BioNTech）疫苗对所有当前关注的变种冠病病毒都是有效的，包括德尔塔变种。”
该研究的一个潜在局限是缺乏被研究群体对是否遵守戴口罩指引以及他们的职业信息，这两项信息可能会影响他们的检测频率及接触病毒的可能性。
数据显示，接种疫苗首个月后，疫苗对预防德尔塔变种病毒的有效性为93%；四个月后降至53%；针对其他变种病毒的有效性则从97%降至67%。
南加州凯撒医疗集团的研究与评估部负责人塔托夫说：“对我们来说，这表明德尔塔变种病毒并不是一种可以完全躲避免疫系统攻击的变种病毒。”
她说：“如果它能完全躲避，我们不太可能在接种疫苗后看到那么高的有效性，因为在那种情况下，接种疫苗是无法发挥作用的。它的有效性一开始就会很低，而且会一直保持低水平。”
美国食品与药物管理局（FDA）已授权为年长者和部分高风险群体接种辉瑞-BioNTech疫苗追加剂。科学家要求制药商提供更多数据以决定是否让所有人接种追加剂。
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预告一周北美法律公益讲座安排
10/04/2021
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韩国爆多起年轻人接种辉瑞疫苗后猝死 引大众担忧
来源：联合报
8/29/2021
韩国中央日报报导，韩国19日开始为年轻人接种新冠疫苗，之后却惊传多起20多岁年轻人接种辉瑞（Pfizer）疫苗后猝死案例，引发大众担忧。
韩国警方23日指出，忠清南道公州一名21岁女大生16日接种首剂辉瑞疫苗，没有发生任何显著副作用，却在23日下午被发现陈尸租屋处。女大生家属指出，她没有任何已知潜在疾病，当时和朋友一起读书至深夜，监视器有拍到女大生猝逝当天凌晨有去便利商店。
女大生遗体被发现时，身上有紫色斑点。目前女大生家属和警方已要求韩国国家法医中心进行尸体解剖，已查明死因。
韩国其他地区也有发生类似案例。一名20多岁近30岁男子在济州岛2日接种首剂辉瑞疫苗，出现胸痛。这是常见的副作用症状，男子于22日就医，但之后因症状恶化过世。他也没有任何潜在疾病。此外，一名25岁健康邮务人员则是接种第二剂辉瑞疫苗后，于10日去世，前后仅过3天。
梨花女子大学木洞医院教授全恩美（音译）表示：“对20多岁的年轻人而言，疫苗产生的副作用大多不会致死。但政府必须检查并公布死因，缓解大众焦虑。”
中央日报也呼吁韩国政府，厘清并公布死因后也要为每种副作用案例提供医学检查方法。
Young people’s deaths after Pfizer vaccines are new worry
BY SEO JI-EUN
8/29/2021
Deaths following vaccine jabs among people in their 20s continue to be reported in Korea, adding fresh concerns as inoculations for younger people start Thursday.
A 21-year-old female college student diedone week after getting her first dose of Pfizer’s Covid-19 vaccine in Gongju, South Chungcheong on Monday, according to police reports. She had no known underlying medical condition, her family said.
According to local police, the woman received her first dose of the Pfizer vaccine on Aug. 16 and apparently had no particular side effects. According to her family, she studied until late at night with friends, and was captured on CCTV going to a convenience store at 2 a.m. on the day of her death.
She was found dead in her residence around 2:25 p.m. Monday by the house owner, who received a call from her parents saying she was not answering their phone calls.
She had purple spots on her body when she was found, and the family and the police requested an autopsy from the National Forensic Service to find the cause of death.
“My younger sister was preparing for the teacher certification exam so our family always worried about her health, and continuously contacted her every few hours and checked her condition after she got her vaccine,” a petitioner who claimed to be her sibling wrote in a petition on the Blue House website on Monday.
“There were no signs of worries or stress [in the posts] on her blog that indicated she was planning to take her own life,” the petitioner wrote. “Also, the testimonies of relatives and the family’s opinion agree that this is not a suicide case at all, and that she had been very healthy.”
Similar post-vaccination deaths of the young have been reported in the country.
A man in his late 20s died Sunday, 20 days after receiving a Pfizer Covid-19 vaccine in Jeju.
The man received his first dose on Aug. 2. He complained of chest pain, a common post-vaccine symptom, and visited a hospital on Aug. 22 but died after symptoms worsened.
Working at an airport in Jeju, he was given priority status in the vaccination scheme and received the shot in early August, a health official at the Jeju Provincial Government told the Korea JoongAng Daily.
“He was known to have no underlying diseases,” the official said, yet he wondered whether a causal connection between the vaccine and his death will be acknowledged because of the 20 days that elapsed.
A healthy young mailman, who was 25-year-old, was found dead on Aug. 10, three days following his second Pfizer jab.
After getting the second dose of the vaccine, the man complained of muscle pain. His mother tried to wake him up for work around 5 a.m. on Aug. 10, but was dead.
An online user who claimed to be his sister posted a petition to the Blue House. She wrote, “My younger brother had a medical checkup in July around the time he got his first Pfizer shot, and except for slightly elevated levels of liver enzymes, [the results showed] he was very healthy.
“My family can’t help but raise suspicions that the vaccine is the cause of death, as he died three days after his second Pfizer shot,” the petitioner added.
According to his family, a first autopsy failed to ascertain the cause of death, and they were told that further results will come out one to two months later through an investigation by the KDCA and the National Forensic Service.
Relatives of the deceased worry that the government will not acknowledge that the deaths were caused by Covid-19 vaccines.
Currently, Korea only acknowledges three types of symptoms as post-vaccination side effects: anaphylaxis, or severe allergic reaction; unusual blood clots with low blood platelets termed thrombosis with thrombocytopenia syndrome, or TTS, that can be caused by a viral vector vaccine like AstraZeneca or Janssen; and inflammation of the heart or its lining called myocarditis and pericarditis that can be reported after mRNA vaccines like Pfizer or Moderna.
As of Monday, the KDCA received 492 reports of fatalities after vaccinations — and only two cases have been officially acknowledged as vaccine-caused deaths.
Korea’s Covid-19 Vaccination Damage Investigation Team acknowledged a man in his 30s died due to TTS related to his AstraZeneca inoculation, and a Pfizer recipient in his 20s died due to myocarditis.
“My family is still waiting for additional results from the autopsy, but a lot of people are telling us that the government will say there was no causality,” the family of the mailman wrote. “If we cannot trust the government in this war-like situation, what and who can we rely on?”
Korea will start offering Covid-19 vaccinations to the general public aged 18 to 49 this Thursday, either Pfizer or Moderna’s vaccine depending on the vaccine supply schedule.
“We advise you not to feel pressured or scared by [vaccine side effects] as the benefits of Covid-19 vaccines outweigh the risks,” Cho Eun-hee, an official from the Covid-19 Vaccination Damage Investigation Team said Tuesday.
As concerns are growing among young people, experts say the government should clarify the exact cause of death and present the medical examination method for each side effect cases.
“For people in their 20s, side effects from vaccines mostly don’t lead to death,” said Dr. Chun Eun-mi, a professor of respiratory medicine at Ewha Womans University Mokdong Hospital. “But the cause of deaths must be examined and announced to allay the public anxiety.”
“In a situation where the government is asking people to get vaccinated,” said Dr. Kim Woo-joo, a professor of infectious diseases at Korea University Guro Hospital, “individuals cannot check the safety of each vaccine. The government must inform the medical staff and the public of the safety information and how to receive treatment for any symptoms.”
Experts advise heart patients or people with family histories of heart disease to get a checkup before getting the vaccine. People who develop chest pain, fever or shortness of breath within a week after vaccination should immediately visit a hospital.
Chun also recommended young people get tested for Covid-19 with a home testing kit on the day of getting their vaccines.
“As there are many Covid-19 patients, especially among young people who are often asymptomatic or have weak symptoms, many tend to think the side effects are from the vaccine, yet they are actually from the virus,” Chun said.
“Side effects could be worse in someone with Covid-19, with the vaccine immune response and the virus symptoms mixed together,” she explained. Using home testing kits could prevent such cases if people who test positive cancel their vaccinations.
Meanwhile, the country saw 1,509 more Covid-19 cases on Tuesday, with the total caseload coming to 239,287.
巴西感染冠病总数逼近2000万 但死例趋缓
文 / 陈慧璋
8/01/2021
（早报讯）巴西卫生部说，过去24小时该国新增冠病确诊病例2万零503起，死亡病例则增加464起。
路透社报道，自暴发冠病疫情至今，巴西感染冠病总人数达到1993万8358人，官方公布的累计死亡病例为55万6834起。
巴西是全球冠病疫情第三严重国家，仅排在美国和印度之后，在死亡病例方面则仅次于美国。
根据路透社的统计，巴西过去一周的七天平均冠病死亡病例已从4月高峰下降到932起。在4月初疫情高峰期，巴西的七天平均冠病死亡病例将近3000起。
在冠病疫苗接种方面，截至7月31日，约1.42亿巴西人已接种至少一剂冠病疫苗，完成接种人数超过4140万人。巴西的总人口为2.11亿。
德1万3000人完成接种依旧感染冠病
文 / 许禄艺
5/16/2021
（早报讯）根据德国联邦卫生部当地时间周五（5月14日）发布的数据，该国目前完成全部疫苗接种的人数已超过800万，但其中仍然有约1万3000人的冠病病毒检测结果呈阳性，占比0.16%，死亡人数为662人；接种过第一剂疫苗的人数已超过2850万人，其中有约4万4000人感染冠病病毒，占比0.15%，死亡人数达到约2000人。
根据德国联邦卫生部的说法，目前还不能确定完成全部疫苗接种人员的具体感染时间，究竟是在接种第二剂疫苗后的14天之内还是之外。
德国卫生部指出，冠病疫苗虽然在大部分情况下可以显着降低感染风险，但无法百分之百保证。而且，在接种完第二剂疫苗之后，人体一般需要大概两周的时间才能建立起完全的保护机制。
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