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New data shows the updated COVID vaccines prevent infection and death—but people aren’t getting them. Plus, it’s National Influenza Vaccination Week—another shot you need to get ASAP—and World Soil Day. (536 words, 2 minutes, 40 seconds) |
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Bivalent COVID boosters save lives – if people get them |
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New data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) show the updated (bivalent) boosters significantly increase protection against COVID-19—but the challenge is getting these shots in arms.
The key finding: “[B]ivalent boosters provided significant additional protection against symptomatic SARS-CoV-2 infection in persons who had previously received 2, 3, or 4 monovalent vaccine doses,” and restored protection that had decreased since receiving the last vaccine dose,” says the CDC report.
Specifically: “Relative vaccine effectiveness (rVE) of a bivalent booster dose compared with that of ≥2 monovalent vaccine doses among persons for whom 2–3 months and ≥8 months had elapsed since last monovalent dose was 30% and 56% among persons aged 18–49 years, 31% and 48% among persons aged 50–64 years, and 28% and 43% among persons aged ≥65 years, respectively.”
The impact: People ages 12+ who got the updated booster were 15 times less likely to die from COVID-19 than those who were not vaccinated.
But there’s one problem: As of December 1, only 12.7% of people ages 5+ (and 32.6% of people 65+) have gotten the updated booster. And many children under 5 aren’t getting the COVID vaccine at all.
The bottom line: “There are three pillars to preparing for the upcoming season, as well as any other season, and the first one is vaccination,” Roche Diagnostics’ Dr. Jamie Deeter told Bio.News. “Get the flu vaccine and get boosted for COVID-19. Now is the right time.” |
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World Soil Day recognizes ‘where food begins’ |
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Today is World Soil Day, with the theme, “Soils, where food begins.” Here’s why soil matters and how biotechnology can help improve soil and the nutrients it nurtures.
Why soil matters: 95% of our food comes from soils, according to the U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO)—but 33% of global soils are already degraded, with 90% likely to be at risk by 2050.
Why soil degradation matters: The equivalent of one soccer pitch of soil erodes every five seconds, yet it can take up to 1,000 years to produce just 2-3 centimeters of soil.
The bad news: Over 2 billion people suffer from a lack of micronutrients, and there’s a direct link to nutrient depletion from soil degradation, explains FAO—a problem we need to solve in the face of growing risks to our food supply and a growing population.
The better news: Up to 58% more food could be produced with sustainable soil management.
Biotech could help—with plant biostimulants like microbes, technologies to help seeds grow in salinized soil, or gene editing to help plants grow bigger roots, which can stay in the ground and replenish the soil while reducing the need for traditional fertilizer. Learn more on Bio.News. |
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