What You Need to Know-Week of February 7th
The most important weekly updates for you to keep your community healthy
In this Update:
1. Urgent Updates: COVID-19 Metrics
2. All Things Vaccines: Pfizer and Moderna clinical trials for omicron-specific vaccine
3. Mental Health Reminder: Mental health resources for pandemic-related stress
1. Urgent Updates: COVID-19 Metrics
Updated as of: 02-09-2022
Weekly case, death, and hospitalization counts
| In the past week, there has been an average of: | |
| Cases per day | 6,861 |
| Deaths per day | 68 |
| Compared to two weeks ago: | |
| Cases per day | Decreased by 65% ↓ |
| Deaths per day | Increased by 16% ↑ |
| Hospitalizations per day | Decreased by 18% ↓ |
See breakdown of vaccination by Arizona counties
See updated vaccine information and data in Arizona
2. All Things Vaccines: Pfizer and Moderna clinical trials for omicron-specific vaccine
The data is clear that the existing vaccine booster doses can reduce transmission and severe disease and death from the highly contagious Omicron variant. However, with case counts reaching record highs across the world, vaccine manufacturers Pfizer (collaboration with BioNTech) and Moderna have started working on a vaccine specific to the Omicron variant.
Pfizer recently announced that they have begun a clinical trial for a vaccine specific to the Omicron variant. The clinical trial includes over 1,400 adult participants (aged 18 – 55) and will evaluate the efficacy and safety among three groups:
- Participants who have received two doses of the Pfizer vaccine (90 to 180 days prior to study enrollment). This group will receive either one or two doses of the Omicron-specific vaccine
- Participants who received three doses (the original two-dose series and a booster dose) of the Pfizer vaccine (90 to 180 days prior to study enrollment). These individuals will recieve one dose of either the current Pfizer vaccine or the Omicron-specific vaccine.
- Unvaccinated participants (who have not received any COVID-19 vaccine) will receive three doses of the Omicron-specific vaccine.
The Pfizer and BioNTech collaboration is said to be expecting results within the first 6 months of 2022, but the exact timeline still remains unknown.
Moderna also announced that they are now entering phase 2 of a booster shot, specific to the Omicron variant.
The company noted that the antibody levels after a booster with the original vaccine were high even 6 months after the booster dose. However, immunity does wane. Given the ongoing threat of Omicron they have started to explore a variant-specific booster. Moderna is expecting to enroll 600 study participants. They will enroll some who had received the two-dose series, and some who had received the three-dose series (e.g., initial two-doses, with a booster dose).
3. Mental Health Reminder: Mental health resources for pandemic-related stress
As cases of COVID-19 are doubling every three days in many areas across the country, many of us may experience heightened levels of stress. Whether that stress is felt as a result of friends, family members, or yourself falling ill, working on the frontlines, or feeling unsure about what the future holds for COVID – just know you are not alone. The past two years have brought, and continue to bring, incredibly difficult times.
Further, with case rates so high, many people will contract COVID-19. If you or someone you know has developed COVID-19, the Cleveland Clinic has written an article with ways to help your mental health surrounding the diagnosis. For additional resources and ideas for taking care of yourself, visit this website.For more information about coping with pandemic-related stress for specific groups as well as different ways to reduce stress, please visit this website.
If you would like to learn more about this and other topics related to COVID-19 in Arizona, please complete next week’s AZCOVIDTXT survey that you will receive via text in about a week.