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Several new COVID-19 treatments are likely to become available within the next few months. Each drug fills a slightly different role, but together they could change the course of the illness, at least in the United States. Both an experimental antiviral from Merck and a monoclonal antibody from AstraZeneca, along with a handful of other drugs making their way through the development process, could make COVID-19 a much less fearsome disease. (Weintraub, 10/12)

Dr. Scott Gottlieb explained why he’s optimistic about Merck’s Covid antiviral pill after the drugmaker asked the Food and Drug Administration Monday to authorize its pill to treat people with mild to moderate Covid symptoms. “The topline data from this Merck study was probably the best treatment effect we’ve seen from orally available antiviral drug in the treatment of any respiratory pathogen, so this can make a real difference,” said the former FDA chief in the Trump administration. (DeCiccio, 10/11)

Vaccinated people have been burning up the phone lines at the community health center in rural Franklin, La., clamoring for the newly authorized Covid booster shot. But only a trickle of people have been coming in for their initial doses, even though the rate of full vaccination in the area is still scarcely 39 percent. (Hoffman, 10/11)

In January, Gov. Ned Lamont announced that Connecticut was the first state in the nation to vaccinate all nursing home residents. By the end of that month, the state had even administered more doses than there were residents, in part because some facilities cater to residents discharged from hospitals who enter nursing homes for short periods to recover. But while the overall rate of vaccination among residents remains extremely high, it’s that kind of turnover that has some facilities now reporting rates as low as 66%. Just under a third of nursing homes reported rates under 90%. “Some facilities might have more recently admitted residents who were not vaccinated upon admission,” wrote Department of Public Health spokesperson Chris Boyle. (Pananjady and Altimari, 10/12)

Millions of Americans will be one step closer to receiving a Covid-19 booster shot this week when a key Food and Drug Administration advisory panel meets Thursday and Friday to debate extra doses of the Moderna and Johnson & Johnson vaccines. The FDA’s Vaccines and Related Biological Products Advisory Committee meetings come less than a month after U.S. regulators authorized Covid booster shots of Pfizer and BioNTech’s vaccine to a wide array of Americans, including the elderly, adults with underlying medical conditions and those who work or live in high-risk settings like health and grocery workers. (Lovelace Jr., 10/11)

Later this week an expert committee that advises the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention will hear about the results of a clinical trial that could influence how Covid vaccines are used in this country at some point in the future. The trial, conducted by the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, is a so-called mix-and-match trial, testing the Covid vaccines authorized in the U.S. in combinations with each other. The goal of the trial was to see whether using a different vaccine as a booster shot improves protection. (Branswell, 10/12)