Mixed messaging on boosters, and what makes blood red?
Plus, HIV vaccines, tuberculosis deaths, and disease outcomes for people with intellectual disabilities
Hey Health Deskers,
This week we’re talking Merck, the race for an HIV vaccine and how hemoglobin, which colors our blood, doesn’t change after getting a COVID-19 shot. We’ve also got news on tuberculosis and COVID-19 disease outcomes for people living with intellectual disabilities. First, a look ahead …
Mixed messages from the WHO?
The World Health Organization's (WHO) Strategic Advisory Group of Experts recommended that people who are immunocompromised should be offered an additional dose of a third COVID-19 vaccine. The advice was issued on October 11 and applies to all vaccines that the WHO has approved for emergency use, including Pfizer-BioNTech, AstraZeneca-Oxford, Johnson & Johnson, Moderna, Sinopharm, and Sinovac. On October 13, however, WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, PhD, stated "Countries that continue to roll out boosters now are effectively preventing other countries from vaccinating their most at-risk populations. Supply is finite. In the end this is a zero-sum game." We don't predict this mixed messaging approach will impact those eligible for boosters, but it may cause some additional credibility challenges for the group, particularly in regions with limited vaccine access.
People living with mental disorders, learning disabilities at higher risk of poor COVID-19 outcomes
People living with mental disorders and intellectual disabilities had a greater mortality risk during the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020. Rates of deaths among people with severe mental health conditions were already higher than the general population before the pandemic. Now, new European data from March through June of 2020 has shown that deaths from COVID-19 among those with learning disabilities were nine times higher than the general population, nearly five times higher in those with eating disorders, and roughly four times higher in those with personality disorders and dementia. Another study recently found that fully vaccinated people diagnosed with substance use disorders such as alcohol and opioid addiction might be more susceptible to COVID-19 breakthrough infections. Those who used cocaine and cannabis were predisposed to the highest risk levels. The pandemic has exacerbated health vulnerabilities for people living with mental and intellectual disorders, which merits a discussion for prioritizing these groups for vaccines.
Rise in tuberculosis deaths, decrease in childhood vaccinations
The pandemic has decreased international childhood vaccination rates, leading to 23 million children missing routine immunizations in 2020 due to health system disruptions. The WHO's Global TB Report 2021 has captured the first increase in global tuberculosis (TB) deaths for the first time in more than a decade. In 2020, 1.5 million people died from the disease which the WHO has said was caused by COVID-19, lockdowns, and national capacities to provide TB services, like testing and treatment. Alarmingly, the WHO estimates that 9.9 million people were infected with TB last year, but 4.1 million of those infected were not diagnosed or reported to government health departments. Further, the number of people newly diagnosed with TB that were reported to federal governments fell from 7.1 million in 2019 to 5.8 million in 2020, an 18% decline. The pandemic has reversed years of progress in essential TB services and reducing TB disease burden. We fear that lower rates of preventable diseases through vaccinations coupled with increases in TB incidence will lead to a multi-year increase in global disease burden.
Now: you asked, we answered. Here are the latest topics our scientists are unpacking for you:
COVID-19 vaccines do not change the color of blood
Human blood is red because of a protein called hemoglobin that is inside it. This happens because hemoglobin contains a compound called heme that is colored red and helps transport oxygen throughout the body. Without hemoglobin and heme in it, blood would likely appear to be a lighter, yellower, clearer tone—the color of plasma—which is the part of blood that that is left when hemoglobin/red blood cells are removed. People who are vaccinated against COVID-19 do not have lower levels of hemoglobin in their blood and COVID-19 vaccines do not change the color of blood.
“Several Instagram and Facebook posts (which have been flagged as false information) are incorrectly claiming that blood from vaccinated people is black or a much darker red. The much more likely scenario is that the posts show two types of blood. The first vial of lighter red blood is arterial blood that has been oxygenated and is found in the pulmonary vein, left heart chambers, and the arteries. This blood is pumped from the heart throughout the body. Conversely, venous blood carries blood to the heart and is a darker red color. This blood has less oxygen and more carbon dioxide because of the gas exchange that happens in the body through circulation.”
What does science say about COVID-19 vaccines and male libido?
There is no evidence suggesting that increased male libido (i.e. sex drive) is a common side effect from approved COVID-19 vaccines. Similarly, there is no evidence suggesting that the approved COVID-19 vaccines lead to decreased male libido or fertility. Common side effects include pain at the injection site, fatigue, headache, joint and muscle pain, which have the potential to temporarily decrease libido while the vaccine recipient recovers from minor side effects.
“n contrast, there is preliminary evidence that getting the COVID-19 disease can contribute to erectile dysfunction (ED) and other complications with sexual performance. For example, a small study published in the journal Andrology reported that in a survey of 100 people who identified as male, those who had COVID-19 were more likely to have experienced ED compared to those who did not have COVID-19. This suggests that being unvaccinated could potentially carry a greater risk of impacts on sexual function than being vaccinated, because the vaccines help protect against COVID-19 infection and the development of more serious symptoms.”
How does Merck's Molnupiravir differ from Ivermectin?
Molnupiravir is an experimental antiviral drug, originally developed by the pharmaceutical company Merck for the treatment of influenza (flu). The medication, given in the form of an oral pill, interferes with how viruses copy their genetic material, ribonucleic acid (RNA). This prevents the virus from spreading in our bodies and can help treat patients at risk for severe cases of viral disease.
“In contrast, there is currently no evidence that Ivermectin is effective against COVID-19, including a large study showing no benefit compared to a placebo and another flawed study being withdrawn from a pre-print platform. Ivermectin is an anti-parasitic drug that is used to treat infections caused by roundworms, threadworms, and other parasites. The U.S. FDA has warned against self-administering Ivermectin for COVID-19, particularly from veterinary sources intended for animal use rather than human use, as this decreases the supply of the drug for necessary uses and can pose safety risks if given incorrectly.”
Why is making an HIV vaccine harder than making one for COVID-19?
There is no Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) vaccine currently available to prevent HIV or treat people who have the virus. However, scientists are working tirelessly to develop one. The National Health Institute (NIH) invests in multiple research efforts towards this endeavor. For example, there is an ongoing multinational vaccine clinical trial called the Mosaico. There are several reasons why the production of HIV vaccines are taking longer than ones for other viruses such as SARS-COV-2. Namely, HIV is a more difficult organism to make a vaccine against.
“As of July 2021, there were eight COVID-19 vaccines approved for use and about 30 more undergoing efficacy testing. There have been seven efficacy trials of an HIV vaccine in the past 20 years of HIV vaccine research, and no approved HIV vaccine yet. In addition, only one of these seven vaccines gave a (weak) signal of efficacy. Currently, there is one ongoing clinical trial, the Mosaico, which will assess whether the vaccine regimen designed to induce immune responses against a variety of global HIV strains can safely and effectively prevent the virus.”
That’s all for this time folks, have a good week and we’ll be back soon with more science to share!