Health News Roundup: COVID-19 can be transmitted via lung transplant; AstraZeneca, Sputnik vaccines face hurdles if COVID shots become annual affair

After it receives the recommendation, the FDA is likely to authorize the vaccine for emergency use within a day or so, making it the third available in the United States, and the only one that requires just one shot. AstraZeneca vaccine made in India to arrive in Canada on Wednesday A shipment of 500,000 doses of the COVID-19 vaccine developed by AstraZeneca and Oxford University and made by the Serum Institute of India is set to arrive in Canada on Wednesday, the chief executive of local partner Verity Pharmaceuticals said on Friday.

Following is a summary of current health news briefs.

AstraZeneca, Sputnik vaccines face hurdles if COVID shots become annual affair

Vaccines from AstraZeneca, Russia's Gamaleya Institute and Johnson & Johnson fight the coronavirus with another virus, leaving scientists concerned the shots may lose potency if annual inoculations become necessary to fight new variants. So-called viral vector shots - also used by several Chinese COVID-19 vaccine developers - use harmless modified viruses as vehicles, or vectors, to carry genetic information that helps the body build immunity against future infections.

Vaccine hoarding threatens global supply via COVAX: WHO Countries seeking their own COVID-19 vaccine doses are making deals with drug companies that threaten the supply for the global COVAX programme for poor and middle-income countries, the World Health Organization said on Friday. "Now, some countries are still pursuing deals that will compromise the COVAX supply. Without a doubt," WHO senior adviser Bruce Aylward told a briefing.

Poles go underground for COVID treatment in UNESCO-listed salt mine A UNESCO World Heritage site in Poland is being used to help people recover from COVID-19, with patients going deep underground in the Wieliczka salt mine to a therapeutic centre dealing with respiratory illness. Famous for its ornate underground chapels carved from salt, the Wieliczka mine, located just outside the southern city of Krakow, is one of Poland's biggest tourist attractions, drawing around 1.8 million visitors in 2019.

FDA advisory panel to review Johnson & Johnson COVID-19 vaccine with thumbs up expected A panel of expert advisers to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration began a meeting to discuss Johnson & Johnson's one-dose COVID-19 vaccine on Friday, setting the stage for a possible emergency use authorization as early as this week. After it receives the recommendation, the FDA is likely to authorize the vaccine for emergency use within a day or so, making it the third available in the United States, and the only one that requires just one shot.

AstraZeneca vaccine made in India to arrive in Canada on Wednesday A shipment of 500,000 doses of the COVID-19 vaccine developed by AstraZeneca and Oxford University and made by the Serum Institute of India is set to arrive in Canada on Wednesday, the chief executive of local partner Verity Pharmaceuticals said on Friday. Verity's chief executive, Howard Glase, said the shipment is not part of Canada's allocation from the COVAX system, meant to ensure equitable vaccine distribution. Canada has a separate procurement deal with AstraZeneca, which licensed the vaccine to Serum Institute, the world's largest vaccine producer.

Virus can be transmitted via lung transplant; COVID-19 deadlier than flu for ICU patients The following is a roundup of some of the latest scientific studies on the novel coronavirus and efforts to find treatments and vaccines for COVID-19, the illness caused by the virus.

COVID-19 can be transmitted via lung transplant

U.S. administers 70.5 million doses of COVID-19 vaccines: CDC The United States has administered 70,454,064 doses of COVID-19 vaccines in the country as of Friday morning and distributed 94,300,910 doses. The tally of vaccine doses are for both Moderna and Pfizer/BioNTech, vaccines as of 6:00 a.m.

ET on Friday, the agency said.

UK to prioritise next stage of COVID-19 vaccines by age, not job Police and teachers will not jump to the head of the queue in the second phase of Britain's COVID-19 vaccination rollout, with people instead prioritised by age, officials advising the government said on Friday, describing this as the best way to keep up the pace of immunisations. Britain's vaccine programme has been among the fastest in the world, meeting a government target to offer a first dose of vaccination to 15 million high-risk people by mid-February.

Johnson & Johnson says two people had severe allergic reactions after COVID-19 shot A Johnson & Johnson scientist said on Friday that the company has received preliminary reports of two cases of severe allergic reactions, including one case of anaphylaxis, in people who had received the company's COVID-19 vaccine. Dr. Macaya Douoguih, head of clinical development and medical affairs at J&J unit Janssen Pharmaceuticals, said the case of anaphylaxis was observed in an ongoing trial of healthcare workers in South Africa.

"Things are tenuous," U.S. CDC says as downward trend in COVID-19 cases stalls The head of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said on Friday that a recent decline in COVID-19 cases may be stalling, a development she described as concerning while urging that safeguards to fight the virus remain in place.

Dr. Rochelle Walensky told reporters the number of cases had been increasing for the past three days compared to the prior week and that declines in hospitalizations and deaths were also "potentially leveling off at still a very high number."