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Omicron-specific booster may not provide more protection, study suggests

A new study conducted in primates suggests there may not be a benefit from updating Covid-19 vaccines to target the Omicron variant at this time. The work, by scientists at the National Institutes of Allergy and Infectious Diseases’s Vaccine Research Center, shows that animals boosted with the original vaccine had similar protection against disease in the lungs as primates that received an updated booster based on the Omicron strain. The work, done with Moderna’s licensed vaccine and a booster shot based on the Omicron variant, was posted to a preprint server on Friday. It has not yet gone through peer review. STAT’s Helen Branswell has more.

Also Friday, CDC Director Rochelle Walensky endorsed the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices’ recommendation for use of Moderna’s vaccine in adults, following FDA’s decision earlier last week to approve the vaccine, previously authorized for emergency use.

Lander’s all-staff mea culpa has a familiar ring

We don’t know why Eric Lander is apologizing to his staff, but we do know it’s not his first apology. In a sweeping mea culpa issued this past week, the White House science adviser apologized for speaking to employees “in a disrespectful or demeaning way,” Politico reported Friday. It’s the latest in a string of Lander controversies — and apologies — dating back years. The all-staff email appeared to be an attempt to preempt an investigative story that Politico disclosed it had undertaken. When Lander was appointed, many celebrated his central role in the Human Genome Project and his work since co-founding the Broad Institute. But detractors cited his toast of James Watson, who has expressed racist and misogynistic sentiments, and his perceived slight of two women researchers who helped develop the gene-editing technology CRISPR. Read more.

CDC estimates 1 in 10 people develop long Covid symptoms

Ever since reports began to surface of Covid-19 symptoms that just wouldn’t go away, researchers have been tracking what’s become known as long Covid. Based on health records for 2 million adults and children, CDC researchers estimate about 1 in 10 people will develop new symptoms a month or more after their diagnosis, including fatigue, shortness of breath, heart rhythm changes, and type 2 diabetes. Picking up new cases of type 2 diabetes could be related to treatments that raise blood sugar levels, the researchers note in the JAMA Network Open article. “Although new symptoms and conditions occurred infrequently, applying the proportions of these rare events to the millions of persons infected with SARS-CoV-2 means that a substantial number might experience new symptoms and conditions after their acute illness,” they conclude.

Closer look: How saying no to a blanket chilled an ER doctor

(Mario Tama/Getty Images)

Cold after lying in an emergency department triage area for six hours, Mrs. J. asks for a blanket. The answer is no, leaving both patient and nurse chilled, one more wound to battered health care workers, Jay Baruch of Brown University writes in a STAT First Opinion. The lack of blankets isn’t really about blankets, he explains. “It’s a failure of something core that any system that has health and care as part of its title or mission should be able to uphold regardless of the challenges. … The pandemic has exposed what most of us working in emergency departments and hospitals have known for years: the house of medicine is collapsing. … What can we do in this cataclysm of can’t?” Read more.

Doctors and health groups mount campaign to save Biden’s FDA pick

Some of the nation’s most influential doctors and public health groups are orchestrating a mad-dash effort to convince senators to confirm Robert Califf, President Biden’s pick to lead the FDA. The Campaign for Tobacco Free Kids and Friends of Cancer Research are calling lawmakers and their staff. The American Heart Association is organizing an activist call-in campaign. Celebrity doctors and Califf’s former colleagues at Duke University are phoning Capitol Hill. The growing campaign comes amid increasing signs that Califf’s nomination is in serious trouble. Five Democrats in the Senate have already expressed serious concerns with Califf’s nomination and at least 10 more are still undecided about his candidacy; quite a few Republicans in the chamber also have concerns. STAT’s Nicholas Florko and Rachel Cohrs have more on who's applying pressure.

Culturally tailored program boosted colorectal cancer screening rates among Hispanic adults

Colorectal cancer is the second leading cause of cancer deaths among Hispanic adults, behind lung cancer for men and lung cancer and breast cancer for women. Screening can prevent colorectal cancer cases and deaths, but colonoscopies rates are low among Hispanic people and other groups facing language and health care access barriers. A new study in Cancer shows the value of culturally tailored programs in which a patient navigator contacts people in their language and follows up to schedule appointments, explain bowel preparation, and deal with logistics like transportation. Among nearly 700 Spanish speakers in the 28-month program, 85% completed their colonoscopies, with no differences between men and women. That’s in contrast to national rates of 40% to 55% among Hispanic adults and lower rates among Hispanic men. And 90% of participants said they wouldn't have completed their colonoscopies without the patient navigation program.

What to read around the web today

'Tsunami' of woes: U.S. school shootings spike amid pandemic stress. Reuters
The world is likely sicker than it has been in 100 years. Wall Street Journal
Health sites let ads track visitors without telling them. Wired
FDA’s top cancer regulator gives cool reception to drug Lilly licensed from Chinese drugmaker STAT+
How New York City’s hospitals withstood the Omicron surge. New York Times
The quest for the small molecule holy grail with Merck’s Dean Li. STAT+