Mississippians concerned they may have been exposed to Monkeypox should speak to their primary care provider about vaccination, with effective post-exposure vaccines available to individuals who meet certain criteria.
On April 18, the Mississippi Free Press spoke with Dr. Eric Topol, founder and director of the Scripps Research Translational Institute in La Jolla, Calif., about the second booster and the uncertain future of the pandemic more broadly.
COVID-19 is still continuing a sharp decline in Mississippi, but the state continues to under-use the available supply of oral antivirals, meaning that even more preventable death—especially in unvaccinated individuals—is occurring.
Omicron continues its march across the nation, promising another winter of high transmission of COVID-19. But further ahead in 2022, more robust treatments for the virus are rekindling hopes that the world may have better tools to fight the pandemic soon.
Editor Donna Ladd writes: “We do this cause/solution-driven journalism to serve our communities, our people and to actually help move needles in our state. We are here to celebrate local efforts and to expose inadequacies that make conditions worse for traditionally marginalized Mississippians. But we are also fans of challenging the narratives of our state outside the state lines.”
Laboratory studies of the omicron variant of COVID-19 from multiple sources reveal a dramatic decrease in neutralizing activity from prior infection with earlier variants and the available vaccines. The results provide a challenging prospect for the future of the pandemic if the variant becomes dominant, and strongly encourage a booster dose for all adults, regardless of health conditions.
The potential of immune evasive properties of omicron, Dr. Eric Topol says, are why it is “vital that everyone with an acquired infection of COVID gets additional protection with at least one shot, if not two.”
Adult Mississippians vaccinated with the Moderna or Johnson & Johnson COVID-19 vaccine are now eligible for booster doses at county health department locations across the state, following Food and Drug Administration emergency authorization attesting that the booster doses are safe and effective.
Mississippians vaccinated with Moderna or Johnson & Johnson’s COVID-19 shots may soon become eligible for booster doses, after the companies submitted long-term efficacy data to the Food and Drug Administration.
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The Mississippi Free Press is a project of the Mississippi Journalism and Education Group, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit journalism organization (EIN 85-1403937).
