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. Prior to joining MJH Life Sciences in 2020, he has covered a variety of fields and markets including diabetes, oncology, ophthalmology, IT, travel, and local news. You can email him at 

As the US is going into winter and the emergence of the Omicron COVID-19 variant has arrived in the country, President Joe Biden announced the development of his administration’s 9-point plan this afternoon. The plan is aimed at adding protective steps against COVID-19.

Ahead of Biden’s press conference this afternoon, The White House published a release of the plan.

Vaccinations to Protect Our Kids and Keep Our Schools Open

Expanding Free At-Home Testing for Americans

Stronger Public Health Protocols for Safe International Travel

Protections in Workplaces to Keep Our Economy Open

Rapid Response Teams to Help Battle Rising Cases

Supplying Treatment Pills to Help Prevent Hospitalizations and Death

Continued Commitment to Global Vaccination Efforts

Steps to Ensure We Are Prepared for All Scenarios

“Today’s actions will ensure we are using these tools as effectively as possible to protect the American people against this variant and to continue to battle the Delta variant during the winter months when viruses tend to thrive. These actions will help keep our economy growing and keep Americans safe from severe COVID-19,” The White House said in the statement.

Within this plan, vaccinations continue to be the key strategy. The administration is looking at ways to encourage adults to get booster doses, opening family clinics to get children vaccinated and adults booster doses and the administration is continuing to call upon businesses to move forward with requiring employees to get vaccinated or get tested weekly.

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC)

 strengthened their recommendation that all individuals 18 and older receive a booster dose of the COVID-19 vaccine. According to the recommendation, adults are eligible for a booster dose 6 months after their primary series of the Pfizer-BioNTech or Moderna or 2 months after a single dose of the Janssen (Johnson & Johnson) vaccine.

This clarifies earlier Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and CDC recommendations and opens the door to all adult Americans to get the booster doses.

For the family clinic initiative, these places will provide vaccines for the whole family including first doses for parents, teens, and kids, and boosters for those eligible. “This model builds on the Administration’s ongoing efforts – in coordination with states, localities, providers and community leaders – to meet people where they are and make vaccinations accessible and convenient in communities across the country,” the White House said in the statement.

Another area the plan incorporates is travel. The administration has restricted travel from African countries where the Omicron variant is spreading.

As of next week, the administration is tightening up pre-departure protocols for all inbound international travelers coming into the United States. They are requiring all inbound international travelers to test for COVID-19 within one day of departure, regardless of nationality or vaccination status. The White House statement said this "tighter testing timeline provides an added degree of public health protection as scientists continue to assess the Omicron variant."

They have also extended the mask requirement for travelers on planes, trains, and public transportation until March 18.

In looking at this area, the administration is making 60 plus COVID-19 emergency response team deployments available. The teams include over 20 Department of Defense Medical Response Team deployments to support clinical staffing at strained hospitals; 10 National Disaster Medical System team deployments to provide clinical support at strained hospitals; over 20 monoclonal antibody strike team deployments to support the administration of these lifesaving treatments; and over 15 CDC expert deployments to conduct outbreak investigations and provide epidemiological or technical support whenever needed.

The administration is also providing $20 million in funding from the American Rescue Plan to strengthen the Medical Reserve Corps (MRC), a network of medical and public health volunteers organized locally to improve the health of their communities. The funding will be used towards resources to help support the approximately 300,000 MRC who have volunteered towards local COVID-19 response.

Articles

The strategies address booster doses, travel, and rapid response.

Biden Administration Has 9-Point Plan to Combat Omicron

Nina Cosdon is the assistant editor for Contagion. Before joining MJH Life Sciences, she graduated magna cum laude from Denison University in 2021 with a degree in Communication. You can find her reading, hiking, or antiquing, or by emailing her at ncosdon@mjhlifesciences.com.

Heterosexual sex accounts for 23% of new HIV diagnoses each year. However, heterosexual people are drastically underrepresented in HIV preexposure prophylaxis (PrEP) research and campaigns. As a result, many heterosexual Americans are neither aware of their relative risk nor taking proper precautions.

, the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) reported that only 32.3% of heterosexual adults are aware of PrEP, and less than 1% use it.

The study included 9359 participants, all of whom consented to face-to-face interviews. The study was conducted among heterosexually active adults in 23 urban areas with high HIV prevalence. Analysis was limited to participants who tested negative for HIV and reported low income; the National HIV Behavioral Surveillance (NHBS) uses low income as a risk indicator of HIV infection through heterosexual activity.

“PrEP awareness” was simply defined as having heard of PrEP. Though not all participants may have been eligible for PrEP, PrEP awareness and general HIV prevention knowledge is beneficial for all persons.

The investigators assessed demographic and social determinants of health using log-linked Poisson regression models. Because PrEP use was <1%, it could not be analyzed nor stratified.

PrEP awareness and uptake are stratified by race, ethnicity, and gender. Awareness was lowest among Hispanic/Latinx men (19.5%) and women (17.6%), and among Puerto Rico residents (5.8%). Overall, men had lower PrEP awareness than women (29.2% versus 34.8%).

Uninsured participants had lower PrEP awareness than the insured (26.4% versus 34.2%). There was a significant disparity between non-US-born participants who did not speak English well and US-born participants (6.5% versus 35.2%).

The CDC cited past studies that suggest heterosexual adults are interested in taking PrEP when they learn about it, indicating that tailored PrEP messaging, especially in Spanish, could help reach this key demographic.

There is a high prevalence of HIV infection among Black Americans, and they had a higher PrEP awareness than white or Hispanic persons, which the CDC attributed to HIV prevention campaigns targeted toward Black persons.

The results suggested that targeted PrEP campaigns and routine screenings can increase PrEP awareness and uptake, especially among Hispanic adults. HIV PrEP campaigns are usually directed to men who have sex with men, so many heterosexual adults may be unaware of PrEP and their own HIV risk.

Only 1 in 3 heterosexually active adults is aware of HIV PrEP, and this is even lower among Hispanic/Latinx men and women.



HIV PrEP Use Among Heterosexual Adults Is Negligible, CDC Reports

, coronavirus and other infectious diseases.


Almost two-thirds of young women and girls in Namibia were found to have one or more risk factors associated with HIV infection acquisition, but they are also eligible for programming aimed at reducing HIV infection, according to the 

The CDC study authors wrote that young women and girls from sub-Saharan Africa account for a disproportionate number of new HIV infections compared to their male peers. The Determined, Resilient, Empowered, AIDS-free, Mentored, and Safe (DREAMS) program was introduced to the southern African country of Namibia in 2017 with aims of reducing factors that contribute to vulnerability to HIV infection in this population. 

Young women and girls aged 13 to 24 years were targeted for DREAMS program services, and an analysis at the time showed 62 percent of women in that age group were eligible due to meeting at least one criterion, the study authors explained. Some of these criteria included adverse childhood experiences, such as physical, emotional and sexual violence and being an orphan, and high risk behaviors such as early alcohol use, recent heavy alcohol use, and infrequent condom use.

From the DREAMS data, a Namibia government ministry ran an intervention that measured 4,211 13- to 17-year-olds and compared them to 18- to 24-year-olds. Of those participants, 175 had known HIV infection and were excluded. The remaining 4,036 girls without known HIV infection 18%, 42%, and 40% were aged 13–14, 15–19, and 20–24 years, respectively, the study authors wrote.

The highest prevalence of having at least one criterion was found among girls aged 13 and 14, at 71 percent, followed by women 20-24 years, the study authors wrote. The group with the lowest prevalence, those aged 15 to 19 years, still had 57 percent that met at least one DREAMS criterion, the study authors observed. The study authors also found that 28 percent of those 13 and 14 years old, 28% of those aged 15 to 19, and 23 percent of those aged 20 to 24 years met two or more criteria.

For the 13- and 14-year-olds, the most common criteria met was experiencing physical or emotional violence in the past 12 months (50 percent), early alcohol use (21 percent), and orphan status (19 percent), the study authors found. For those aged 15 to 19, the common criteria met included orphan status (23 percent), experiencing lifetime sexual violence (19 percent) and being out of school (18 percent). For the older group, 20 to 24 years, the study authors found that commonly met criteria included infrequent condom use in the last 12 month (39 percent), experiencing sexual violence (26 years) and recent heavy alcohol use (18 precent).

“The DREAMS approach of implementing multiple interventions, such as HIV and violence prevention programming, post-violence care services, HIV testing, preexposure prophylaxis, parenting/caregiver support, and a combination of socioeconomic approaches, addresses the multiple needs of adolescent girls and young women at risk for acquiring HIV,” the study authors concluded. “This multipronged approach can, in turn, lead to reductions in HIV risk behaviors, exposure to violence, and HIV and violence-related outcomes.”

Study authors from the CDC found that girls in the sub-Saharan country of Namibia are at increased risk for HIV acquisition and also experience risk factors that make them eligible for HIV infection prevention programs.

HIV Prevention Plan in Namibia Shows High Prevalence of Risk Factors

At a press conference this afternoon, Anthony S. Fauci, MD, director of the National Institution of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, announced the discovery of the first case of someone with the Omicron variant in San Francisco, California. 

According to Fauci, the person traveled from South Africa on November 22 and tested positive on November 29. San Francisco's Director of Public Health, Dr. Grant Colfax, said the patient was fully vaccinated with the Moderna vaccine. 

After their return from South Africa, the patient became symptomatic, got tested for COVID-19, and reported their travel history.

While they initially had mild symptoms, the Omicron patient has since recovered.

On Monday, the 

) released a new risk assessment for the COVID-19 variant. “The overall global risk…is assessed as very high,” according to the organization.

In light of the news about the variant, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention 

 that all individuals 18 and older receive an additional "booster" vaccine dose. Adults are eligible for a booster shot 6 months after a regimen of Pfizer-BioNTech or Moderna or 2 months after a dose of the Janssen (Johnson & Johnson) vaccine.

The CEOs of Pfizer and Moderna expressed their doubts about the efficacy of the current vaccines with the variant, but both discussed

with the new strain. 

Check back for more updates on this evolving story.

The first Omicron COVID-19 case was discovered in California. The patient, who traveled from South Africa, has since recovered.

First Omicron Case in the United States Reported

In July 2019, the World Health Organization (WHO) indicated dolutegravir for all adolescents and adults living with HIV. This recommendation came after a safety signal in May 2018 that suggested exposure to dolutegravir at conception was associated with infant neural tube defects.

Although the WHO reviewed additional evidence and weighed the risks and benefits in before making their recommendation, dolutegravir uptake remains low among women living with HIV.

Investigators conducted an observational cohort study of 87 sites that began using dolutegravir in 11 low- and middle-income countries. Included sites participated in the International epidemiology Databases to Evaluate AIDS (IeDEA) from the Asia-Pacific, Caribbean, Central and South America network for HIV epidemiology (CCASAnet), and the Central, East, and Southern Africa regions.

included 134672 patients 16-49 years of age who received care from January 2017-March 2020. The participants were either just beginning or had an existing antiretroviral therapy regimen.

By the end of the follow-up period, dolutegravir uptake among women 16-49 years old was 29.4%, compared to 57.7% of men in this age range. This gap in dolutegravir use was wider in countries that implemented the medication before the safety signal, and initially had restrictive policies, as opposed to countries that recommended dolutegravir after the WHO recommendation.

CUNY professor Denis Nash, the study’s senior author, discussed the implications of the results: “The large disparities quantified by our study mean that missed or delayed opportunities to improve HIV treatment outcomes could be substantial over the long run if they are not corrected quickly. We need more rapid and robust pharmacovigilance surveillance both before and after safety signals, which is important for reliably detecting, characterizing, and quantifying adverse events, and rigorously informing implementation decisions about the use of pharmaceuticals on a large scale.”

Dolutegravir has the potential to assist in eradicating HIV as a global public health threat. It has a superior efficacy profile, and reduces HIV transmission during sex, between needle-sharing partners, and in utero.

The study concluded, “Although this disparity was anticipated because of country-level restrictions on access, the results highlight its extent and initial persistence.”

Even after it was confirmed safe, women living with HIV are neglecting to use the drug dolutegravir, potentially subjecting them to worse HIV treatment outcomes.

Women Suffering from Lack of Uptake of Preferred HIV Medication

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After the intervention, more patients were correctly prescribed nPEP and more follow-up visits were recommended.

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As there is a lot of information regarding the Omicron variant, here is our latest slideshow to offer some insights on it.

The Latest on Omicron

Moderna and Pfizer's CEOs voice doubt on the current vaccines’ efficacy with the new variant, but are developing prophylaxis vaccines and treatment strategies to curtail the new strain.   

As the World Works to Understand Omicron, Cases Increase Internationally and Vaccine Manufacturers Weigh In

While there is much still unknown about the Omicron variant, the World Health Organization says it poses “very high” risk due to its increased transmissibility. 

WHO Acknowledges Uncertainty, Says Omicron Variant Is “Very High Risk”

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Biden Administration Has 9-Point Plan to Combat Omicron

HIV PrEP Use Among Heterosexual Adults Is Negligible, CDC Reports

HIV Prevention Plan in Namibia Shows High Prevalence of Risk Factors

First Omicron Case in the United States Reported

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