Given that we are living through THREE global health emergencies (COVID, polio, and monkeypox), new vaccines are being approved, new outbreaks are occurring, and the reality that being healthy is indeed a radical selfless act of loving others (read: we need to redefine what it means to be healthy), “Three Things Thursday” highlights three things I am paying attention to as an epidemiologist each week.
Hoping these posts help to educate and empower you
to be healthy and create healthy communities.
As of this morning, COVID (PCR) case counts, hospitalizations, and deaths were all decreasing in the United States. HOWEVER, there is a significant uptick in the number of cases caused by the BQ.1.1 subvariant, and the viral load in wastewater in the northeastern part of the U.S. is highest we’ve seen in months. Expect next week’s three things to center around COVID…
But for today — let’s discuss cancer vaccines, polio eradication efforts, and preventing rotavirus.
Here we go… Three Things Thursday for October 20, 2022.
A Cancer Vaccine (by 2030?)
Earlier this week the husband and wife team behind BioNTech, which partnered with Pfizer to make the first COVID vaccine available, announced that their mRNA cancer vaccine could be available by 2030.
BIG NEWS, right? I talked about this on the TV news yesterday. Don’t miss it!
Using the same mRNA technology that prevents COVID hospitalizations and deaths, the cancer vaccine — which is still under development — would provide a blueprint for recognizing and fighting cancer cells to your immune system. The cancer vaccines were being developed long before the pandemic, and according to BioNTech —
“What we have developed over decades for cancer vaccine development has been the tailwind for developing the COVID-19 vaccine, and now the Covid-19 vaccine and our experience in developing it gives back to our cancer work”
While this is very exciting news, it is important to note that these vaccines are NOT available and their availability by 2030 is an estimate.
While we wait for the cancer vaccine(s) to work their way through the 3-stage clinical trial process and approval by FDA and CDC, it is important to take measures to prevent cancer — by getting the HPV vaccine, which prevents cervical, anal, and many oropharyngeal cancers — or to detect cancer early through screening tests, like a mammogram or colonoscopy.
$1.2 Billion to Eradicate Polio
The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation recently pledged $1.2 billion
(yes billion, with a B) to support efforts to eradicate polio (they mean global elimination of the disease). According to Bill Gates —
“Polio eradication is within reach. But as far as we have come, the disease remains a threat. Working together, the world can end this disease.”
Polio is a viral disease — caused by the poliovirus. It is spread from person to person via fecal-oral contact (yes, poop into mouth), most often through fecal matter in swimming pools or ponds, and via droplets (a sneeze). Prior to the development and approval of the polio vaccine(s), the disease paralyzed and killed thousands of children every year.
Polio is an ideal candidate for eradication — there is no animal vector, immunity via vaccine or infection is lifelong, and the disease can easily be detected. Just a year ago, polio was endemic (or spreading through communities at a predictable rate) in two countries, Afghanistan and Pakistan. But a reduction in global vaccination rates throughout the pandemic has led to polio cases/outbreaks popping up in the UK and even the US.
Last month, the Pan-American Health Organization (PAHO) noted —
“Brazil, the Dominican Republic, Haiti and Peru are at very high risk for the reintroduction of polio. New York state is accelerating efforts to vaccinate residents after the virus was detected in wastewater samples. Cases were also detected in London and Jerusalem.”
And the World Health Organization is worried, too, stating that the —
“world is at a 'dangerous moment' in the fight against diseases like polio, after an outbreak in Malawi.”
The donation from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation will be used to fund the Global Polio Eradication Initiative’s Strategy 2022-2026. This strategy looks to end polio transmission in Pakistan and Afghanistan and stop outbreaks of the virus around the world, among other things.
Rotavirus Still Causing Problems Around the Globe
A decade ago, rotavirus was not a disease I knew of or cared much about. However, when my healthy 15 month old went from happy baby to a very sick and lethargic baby in a matter of hours, I came to respect and understand the dangers of rotavirus. My son contracted rotavirus in January 2013 — he woke up from a nap on a Saturday afternoon with vomiting and diarrhea. By Sunday morning, he was in the ER receiving IV fluids and they were monitoring his kidney function. He was that dehydrated. The diarrhea was never-ending (or so it seemed) and he was hospitalized for a week (in isolation because rotavirus is so contagious). Rotavirus is no joke.
A new report released this week in the Journal of the American Medical Association (aka JAMA) documented that rotavirus is the leading cause of infections with diarrhea requiring hospitalizations among children worldwide.
Despite the fact that we have a SAFE & EFFECTIVE ROTAVIRUS VACCINE.
*actually there are two safe & effective vaccines!
The JAMA report is a call to action for the global public health community. Access to healthcare and vaccines needs to be prioritized worldwide in order to decrease the number of children requiring hospitalization because of a rotavirus infection.
For families with young children, this is a reminder that the rotavirus vaccine is essential to the health and safety of our children. There are two rotavirus vaccines authorized for use in the United States. Both vaccines require multiple doses and children should receive all of the doses before their first birthday.
Rotavirus is notorious for spreading — also via fecal-oral contact — in daycare facilities.
Have a question or a news story you’d like to see highlighted next week? Let me know.
Vincent Racaniello would argue that polio will be impossible to eradicate, though I think he still finds elimination possible (insofar as he is ever optimistic about anything!). This seems like a recent change of mind and it's been interesting to hear his rationale for it.