Vaccine Boosts Pfizer Revenue, By Jondi Gumz

COMMUNITY NEWS

Vaccine Boosts Pfizer Revenue

By Jondi Gumz

On Monday, Pfizer said annual revenue from its mRNA vaccine portfolio could reach $10 billion to $15 billion by 2030, soothing investor fears about decline in Covid vaccine demand and expiring patents.

Pfizer shares rose to $52.59 in afternoon trading and helped lift the Dow Jones Industrial Average by 528 points, up 1.58% -- the biggest one-day percentage gain since Nov. 30.

FiercePharma expects the drugmaker’s 2023 revenue to top $100 billion — a new record and more than double the prepandemic level — due to demand for its Covid-19 vaccine and oral treatment Paxlovid. The world’s largest pharmaceutical company by revenue, Johnson & Johnson, reported $82.6 billion revenue in 2020.

On Tuesday, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis said he plans to petition the state’s Supreme Court to convene a grand jury to investigate “any and all wrongdoing” with respect to Covid-19 vaccines. “We’ll be able to get the data whether they want to give it or not,” DeSantis said. “In Florida, it is illegal to mislead and misrepresent, especially when you are talking about the efficacy of a drug.”

He shared his plans after a roundtable with Florida Surgeon General Joseph Ladapo and a panel of scientists and physicians, where they pointed out that pharmaceutical companies have not provided their data on Covid-19 vaccines to independent researchers.

On Nov. 27, a published report by six pathologists from Heidelberg (Germany) University Hospital who performed autopsies on 25 individuals who died unexpectedly at home and within 20 days after Covid vaccination.

They found five cases where “autopsy findings indicated death due to acute arrhythmogenic cardiac failure. Thus, myocarditis can be a potentially lethal complication following mRNA-based antiSARS-CoV-2 vaccination.”

None had signs of a pre-existing heart disease.

The study, “Autopsy-based histopathological characterization of myocarditis after anti-SARS-CoV-2-vaccination,” appeared in Clinical Research in Cardiology, official journal of the German Cardiac Society.

On Dec. 12, the college football world was stunned to learn Mike Leach, the influential football coach at Mississippi State University, collapsed at home and died of complications from a heart condition at age 61.

The MSU announcement did not include his Covid vaccination status.

In 2021, Mississippi State University required Covid vaccination for faculty and staff to comply with President Biden’s executive order, the reason being not to jeopardize $271 million in federally funded research.

Former Washington State University SU football coach Nick Rolovich, sued the university on Nov. 11, seeking damages after he was fired last year for refusing to get the Covid-19 vaccine.

Rolovich, who is Catholic, claimed discrimination against religion, wrongful withholding of wages, and loss of future income.

“Trail Funds” from page 5

“The CTC’s decision to approve these grant applications and fund the construction of the Rail Trail alongside the existing railroad tracks confirms that Rail With Trail can be built and is being built in Santa Cruz County,” said FORT Board Chair Faina Segal.

Segal said all 32 miles of trail are now in construction or design phases, and planning for electric passenger rail service from Santa Cruz to Pajaro has started.

“On a personal level, as a resident of Live Oak, I am particularly excited for the brand-new direct route between Santa Cruz and Live Oak for bikes and pedestrians,” she added.

The Coastal Rail Trail plan includes a wide, flat, multi-use trail as well as future electric passenger train service. The goal is to improve walkability and bike safety for people living near the Branch Rail Line. It is hoped the electric train will offer a real alternative to people stuck in Highway 1 traffic jams and give South County residents a commuting solution.

Measure D Oversight

The Santa Cruz County Regional Transportation Commission is accepting applications for the Measure D Taxpayer Oversight Committee for representatives from Districts 1, Santa Cruz, & 2, Aptos. The deadline is Jan. 13.

This committee is tasked with reviewing how the funds generated by the transportation tax are being spent. Responsibilities include: • Reviewing expenditures annually to ensure they conform • Reviewing the annual audit prepared by an independent auditor, describing how funds were spent • Producing a publicly available Annual

Report of Oversight Activities

The committee shall include at least one person with an accounting or fiscal management background. Applications are at https://sccrtc. org/wp-content/uploads/2022/12/OvrSghtCommApp-2022_final.pdf

Smaller Projects

The state also awarded $12.3 million for smaller “active transportation” projects in Santa Cruz County. They are: • City of Watsonville, $6.9 million for Safe

Routes to Downtown Watsonville, pedestrian and bicycle improvements at schools • Santa Cruz County Health Services

Agency, $1.8 million for Safe Routes for Watsonville School Families and

Community, education for pedestrian and bicycle safety • City of Santa Cruz, $2.9 million to construct a multiuse path on Swanton

Boulevard and sidewalks, protected bike lanes, and intersection improvements on Delaware Avenue • UC Santa Cruz, $0.7 million for the culturally inclusive “SlugBikeLife” Bike

Safety and Education Program Phase 2

Statewide, the California Transportation Commission programmed $1.02 billion for 93 active transportation projects.

About 13% of the funding was awarded to Santa Cruz County, one of the smallest counties. n •••

To see the ratings of the funded projects, see file:///Users/patriceedwards/Downloads/184-6-a11y.pdf

“Hart” from page 4

It feels like an institution that is very much rooted in and serving its local community. I find that very inspiring and energizing.

How will you decide which shows to stage?

Season selection is always a process of trying to thread the needle on many different needs and desires. I believe in a collaborative process that involves as many stakeholders in the conversation as possible.

We reached out to the community with a survey that presented genres to gauge audience interest, we’ve reached out to the artistic community to see what is exciting to collaborators, we look at what is being produced in surrounding communities to gauge what niche hasn’t been filled, and then a group of us gets in a room and has a spirited discussion.

In the end, you want to get to a place where the community can trust that even if they don’t know the show or feel they don’t like the show, they are excited to see what Cabrillo Stage will do and that will keep them coming back.

Where do you live? What’s your impression of the

Santa Cruz County housing market — for homebuyers & renters?

Ilive in the Westside of Santa Cruz. We moved here because my partner, Ross, got an exciting job at the Elkhorn Slough Foundation. His entire family lives here, though, so it’s a place we’ve often come back to in our years away.

Let’s just say we moved here in July and we didn’t move into our rental until October. We were lucky enough to have wonderful family to stay with until we could find a rental we could afford. (Buying was never an option.)

When I left Berkeley (after 20 years and an incredibly sweet rental deal) I never thought I’d come back to the Bay Area because as a theatre artist I’d never be able to afford it.

There were some desperate feeling moments between July and September, but in the end we got very lucky with a sweet landlord. And an opportunity to get rid of a lot of stuff! In all seriousness, I love our neighborhood and feel incredibly lucky to walk my dog to the beach on any given day.

I do think the cost of living directly impacts the type of arts that a community can sustain. So many of us consider our work a labor of love, but I know I’ve tried to make love pay the rent many times and it never works out.

I feel very fortunate that we stumbled on the place we got and I hope that as the conversation continues in this area, solutions to the lack of affordable housing will continue to move forward. n

WSU Vice President for Marketing and Communications Phil Weiler told The Seattle Times via email that Rolovich’s lawsuit “is wholly without merit” and that the university enforced the vaccine mandate “in a fair and lawful manner.”

Evasive New Variants

Two newer Omicron subvariants BQ1.1 and BQ.1 now dominate, with 36.8% and 31.1% of cases respectively., according to weekly projections by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control & Prevention.

BA.5, the once-pervasive variant included in the new “bivalent” booster for this fall along with the original 2020 coronavirus, has shrunk to 11.5% of new cases.

A new variant of concern, XBB, comprises 4.7% of cases.

This is important because scientists in new independent studies published in Nature and the Lancet report the bivalent booster “did not produce robust neutralization against the newly emerged BA.2.75.2, BQ.1.1, or XBB.1” – in other words, these newer subvariants are able to evade immunity from infection and vaccination.

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention stopped reporting Covid cases on Sept. 21, recognizing 95% of Americans age 16 and up had some immunity from vaccination or infection.

Now that immune may be in question.

California reports 60.4% of people have primary vaccinations and boosters, and 19.4% got the bivalent booster.

In Santa Cruz County, 67.9% have primary vaccinations and boosters, and 26.9% got the bivalent booster.

The bivalent combo was expedited by federal officials who asked drug-makers to test on mice rather than humans.

Pfizer submitted data based on 8 mice, and the U.S. Food and Drug Administration granted emergency use authorization.

On Dec. 8, the FDA amended that emergency use authorization to allow bivalent Covid-19 vaccines from Moderna and Pfizer for children as young as 6 months.

More Spreadable

Researchers say the new Covid-19 variants are more spreadable, which explains why the state’s test positivity rate is up to 11.7%, but there is no indication they are more deadly than previous versions.

The U.S. is averaging 570 deaths a day, compared to 3,000 last winter when the Delta variant raged.

Santa Cruz County reports 51 Covid deaths after Omicron, compared to 225 as of Dec. 15, 2021, before Omicron.

According to CDC data, vaccinated people made up 42% of Covid deaths in January and February during the peak of the Omicron surge, compared with 23% during the Delta surge in September 2021.

Santa Cruz County reports one more death in the psat month, bringing the total to 276 since the pandemic began in 2020.

The last nine deaths were people who were vaccinated, according to the county dashboard, all 65 or older with medical conditions.

Tests at Home

Santa Cruz County reports 1,114 active Covid cases, double from a month ago.

Dr. John Swartzberg, clinical professor emeritus of infectious diseases and vaccinology at UC Berkeley School of Public Health, contends Covid case data are not valuable for monitoring the virus because so many people buy tests sold at drugstores for use at home, which escape tracking by public health officials.

The Santa Cruz County Office of Education reports 679,500 tests with Inspire Diagnostics.

According to the Santa Cruz Office of Education, cases in schools peaked at 4,407 on Jan. 27, and have risen in the past two weeks from 161 to 360.

The 14-day positivity rate, 12.25% in January, has risen from 1.61% to 2.59%.

The California Department of Public Health reports 20 patients hospitalized in Santa Cruz County with a positive Covid test, including one in intensive care.

Avoid Emergency Room

After Thanksgiving, Santa Cruz County health officials reported a surge in influenza and respiratory syncytial virus cases along with Covid and asked people with no symptoms or mild cases, or other non-serious illnesses, to “avoid unnecessary trips to already burdened hospital emergency departments.”

People with significant difficulty breathing, intense chest pain, severe weakness, or an elevated temperature that persists for days are among those who should consider seeking emergency medical care for their condition, health officials said.

They said people with “relatively mild” respiratory infections “can effectively recover from their illness at home, or by seeking primary care treatment and/or speaking with their primary care provider.”

See the CDC guidance for RSV at https://www.cdc.gov/rsv/clinical/index. html

Santa Cruz County

In hospital with positive Covid test: 20 Intensive care: 1 •••

COVID Deaths: 276

As of Dec. 12

Age

85 and older: 121 • 75-84: 64 • 65-74: 49 60-64: 15 • 55-59: 4 • 45-54: 10 35-44: 8 • 25-34: 5

Underlying Conditions

Yes: 226 • No: 50

Vaccinated

Yes: 39 • No: 237

Race

White 163 • Latinx 90 • Asian 16 • Black 3 Amer Indian 1 • Hawaiian 1 • Another 2

Gender

Men: 140 • Women: 136

Location

At facility for aged: 118 Not at a facility: 158 Plenty of Free Customer Parking

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Researchers say the new Covid-19 variants are more spreadable, which explains why the state’s test positivity rate is up to 11.7%, but there is no indication they are more deadly than previous versions.

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Immunization Practices voted unanimously in favor of adding the Covid vaccine to the federal recommended immunization schedule for children and adults.

The existing schedule recommends 27 doses of vaccine between birth and age 6.

Starting at 6 months, children should get the Covid vaccine, plus boosters, the committee said.

The committee heard Dr. Tom Shimabukuro report the death of a boy 13 days after his first dose of Pfizer Covid vaccine. The autopsy showed the cause of death was heart inflammation known as myocarditis; tests found no evidence of viral infection. The death was reported to the federal Vaccine Adverse Effects Reporting System, and verified by the CDC. Committee members determined Covid vaccine benefits outweigh the risks.

The CDC said its recommendation is not a mandate, with the decision up to states, counties and municipal officials.

California’s SB 277 requires students be vaccinated to attend public school; no exemptions for personal belief. Homeschoolers are exempt.

Gov. Newsom plans to lift the state of Covid-19 emergency on Feb. 28.

Local information: www.santacruzhealth.org/coronavirus or (831) 454-4242 from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Friday. n