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The World Health Organization (WHO) technical advisory group on COVID-19 vaccine composition met last week to review the latest SARS-CoV-2 genetic changes and assess if any vaccine changes are needed, and today the group recommended sticking with the current monovalent XBB.1.5 antigen. (Schnirring, 12/13)

Pfizer shares tumbled to their lowest close in more than nine years, after the giant drugmaker overestimated Covid-19 vaccine use and the company was forced to warn about its prospects. (Hopkins and Feuer, 12/13)

Current injectable COVID-19 vaccines are unable to induce robust immunity in the mucosal tissues lining the airways. A protein-based vaccine delivered to the lungs in the form of an inhaled dry powder shows promise as a way forward. (Xing and Jeyanathan, 12/13)

Corewell Health announced they will limit the number of visitors to pediatric units at three hospitals in Metro Detroit due to the rise of pediatric respiratory illnesses. Effective immediately, only two visitors will be allowed at the bedside during the day and one visitor overnight at Corewell Health's Beaumont Hospitals in Dearborn, Royal Oak, and Troy, according to a press release. (Dawson, 12/13)

The spread of respiratory illnesses is well underway, as US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention director Dr. Mandy Cohen told Congress recently. She noted the rise of three particular viruses: flu, the coronavirus and respiratory syncytial virus, better known as RSV. (Hetter, 12/13)

The rate of invasive pneumococcal disease (IPD) in children plummeted 72% from 2002 to 2021 and continued to fall after the 7-valent (7-strain) pneumococcal conjugate vaccine (PCV7) was replaced by the 13-valent version (PCV13), a Yale University–led team reports today in Pediatrics. (Van Beusekom, 12/13)

Â鶹ŮÓÅ Health News: Rift Over When To Use N95s Puts Health Workers At Risk Again 

Three years after more than 3,600 health workers died of covid-19, occupational safety experts warn that those on the front lines may once again be at risk if the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention takes its committee’s advice on infection control guidelines in health care settings, including hospitals, nursing homes, and jails. In early November, the committee released a controversial set of recommendations the CDC is considering, which would update those established some 16 years ago. (Maxmen, 12/14)

With more than a full year past since China eased restrictions and let COVID-19 sweep its households, scientists are worried a unique opportunity may be slipping away to study long COVID from possibly hundreds of millions of infections in that country. Global disease experts say little is known about China's experience with long-term COVID effects, which in Britain, Canada, the U.S. and elsewhere are thought to have afflicted millions with debilitating fatigue, brain fog and other symptoms that persist for months or even years. (Silver, 12/13)

A study across 18 US universities reveals that about 4% of student athletes who tested positive for COVID-19 from spring 2020 to spring 2021 developed long COVID. The study is published in BMC Infectious Diseases. Researchers based their findings on survey results from 6,923 student athletes in spring 2020 and 7,651 in 2020-2021. In spring 2020, 678 (9.8%) of athletes tested positive for COVID-19, as did 1,943 (25.4%) in the 2020-2021 school year. Of the student athletes who tested positive for COVID-19, 171 (25.2%) had symptoms in spring 2020, and 1,082 (55.7%) were symptomatic in 2020-2021. (Soucheray, 12/13)