Two new studies, one from the United States and one from Canada, suggest that the oral antiviral drug Paxlovid (nirmatrelvir-ritonavir) is effective in lowering the odds of hospitalization or death from the SARS-CoV-2 Omicron subvariant.
Pregnant women can reduce their infant's risk of COVID-related hospitalization by receiving at least two doses of an mRNA vaccine, which are highly effective against maternal Delta variant infection and moderately effective against maternal and infant Omicron infection, suggests a study published yesterday in BMJ. A third (booster) dose offered added protection against Omicron.
...hospitals are still about as full as they’ve ever been during the pandemic – at least three-quarters of available beds across the country were in use for all of 2022 – and that doesn’t seem likely to change any time soon. ...
The first hypothesis suggests people’s immune systems are weaker now, due to a lack of exposure to viruses while observing COVID-19 public health measures over the last two-and-a-half years.
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