LABS MIRED BY STAFF INFECTIONS AMID RECORD TESTING DEMAND — Testing laboratories at the center of efforts to track the spread of Covid-19 expect to face record demand in the coming weeks while their workforces are depleted by the very virus they’re surveying. The Biden administration is relying on testing to keep the country going and help avoid a return to stricter public health restrictions. But there may not be enough workers to process an avalanche of tests, even as the supply chain for once-scarce equipment like test kits and pipette tips remains intact. “I think what’s going to happen is as this thing moves across the big population states like Texas and California the s--- is going to really hit the fan because there’s just not enough capacity of people, lab techs to keep these labs going,” Vault Health CEO Jason Feldman said. The White House is “actively tracking the issue of staffing shortages and currently exploring ways we can assist,” a senior administration official told POLITICO. “I think the staffing is a rate-limiting factor for laboratories of all kinds,” Association of Public Health Laboratories CEO Scott Becker said. “It’s not like the Biden administration can just use the [Defense Production Act] for people.” CDC RECOMMENDS ALL TEENS GET PFIZER COVID BOOSTER — Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Director Rochelle Walensky endorsed her advisers’ recommendation Wednesday night to offer booster doses of the Pfizer-BioNTech Covid-19 vaccine to teens ages 12 to 17, Lauren reports. The new guidance, which followed FDA’s decision to authorize the boosters for younger adolescents Monday, strengthened CDC’s suggestion that 16- and 17- year-olds “may” get a booster shot five months after their second dose and now includes 12- to 15-year-olds. The agency’s external advisory committee voted 13-1 for the new teen booster recommendation. The only points of contention were around whether this recommendation would be the best strategy to mitigate the pandemic’s effects, given the sheer number of unvaccinated people. A stressor for pharmacies: Michael Hogue, a non-voting member representing the American Pharmacists Association, argued that recommending more teens and adolescents to get a booster would strain an already heavily burdened pharmacy system. “There is an increasing severe shortage of staff personnel at pharmacies … We have to think about what is reasonable to ask of our limited resources.” What about vaccines for younger children? After the committee’s vote, Alejandra Gurtman, the vice president of vaccine research and development for Pfizer, reiterated that trials for vaccines for children younger than 5 were still ongoing. Lab data suggests that the vaccine would need to be three doses instead of two. Pfizer and BioNTech had updated their trials accordingly, she said, to deliver data by March or April. In mid-December of last year, the company announced its vaccine generated immunity comparable to young adults in children 6 to 24 months old but not for those between ages 2 and 5. WEST VIRGINIA: LET US GIVE OUT 4TH DOSES — GOP Gov. Jim Justice said Thursday he wrote to the Biden administration to seek permission to dole out fourth doses of the Pfizer and Moderna Covid vaccines to certain West Virginians. Citing studies from Israel showing higher antibody levels after boosters — and the country’s recent decision to administer a second booster to certain populations — Justice said his state wants to “walk hand-in-hand with Israel.” Background: West Virginia was one of the states that got ahead of Washington on booster shots. Justice encouraged adult residents to get them for weeks before they were technically recommended for everyone, arguing that most, if not every, West Virginian were considered “high risk” given the state’s poor health profile. State leadership has also long admired Israel’s Covid data and thinks there are parallels between their populations. The White House, CDC and FDA didn’t respond to requests for comment. SAY YES COVID TEST VERMONT — More than 500,000 rapid Covid-19 at-home tests will be distributed to Vermont citizens under an initiative by NIH and CDC to study their effectiveness, Republican Governor Phil Scott announced Thursday. “While our primary objective is to get tests into the field as efficiently as possible, we are also assessing how well the system works so we can continue to improve testing options and work with President Biden’s team to make future testing programs successful,” Scott said in a statement. J&J: COVID VACCINE OFFERS ‘DURABLE PROTECTION’ — Johnson & Johnson touted results of a company-sponsored study Thursday it says shows its single-shot Covid vaccine provides “durable protection” for at least six months against breakthrough infections and hospitalizations. The study, which hasn’t been peer-reviewed, compared the J&J vaccine against primary vaccination with the Pfizer and Moderna mRNA options. While the J&J shot has a lower efficacy level overall compared to the mRNA vaccines, the authors — all but one of whom work for J&J subsidiary Janssen — wrote that the study shows the single-dose product posted the smallest reduction in efficacy over time against those two benchmarks, followed by Moderna then Pfizer. All three maintained steady protection against ICU admissions, they said. | 
