• The US FDA announces that it is authorizing additional doses of mRNA vaccines from Moderna and Pfizer/BioNTech for certain immunocompromised people (transplant recipients and those who are diagnosed with conditions considered to have an equivalent level of immunocompromise). Acting FDA Commissioner Janet Woodcock noted that “…other individuals who are fully vaccinated are adequately protected and do not need an additional dose of COVID-19 vaccine at this time. The FDA is actively engaged in a science-based, rigorous process with our federal partners to consider whether an additional dose may be needed in the future.” Source
• Endpoints reports that the adaptive TOGETHER trial of fluvoxamine (a selective serotonin reuptake inhibitor commonly used for depression and approved for treating obsessive-compulsive disorder) found that the drug reduced hospitalization or emergency room stays of over six hours among people with a positive SARS-CoV-2 test result by 31 percent, comparing outcomes among 74 people who received fluvoxamine vs. 107 in the placebo group. They also noted a 29 percent reduction in mortality among the fluvoxamine group, which had 17 deaths versus 24 deaths in the placebo group. Source
• A 64-year-old woman traveled from Nanjing to Yangzhou, in Jiangsu province, where she played mahjong in several chess and card rooms before being diagnosed with COVID-19, seeding China’s largest outbreak of SARS-CoV-2. Nearly a hundred people in Yangzhou became infected, 64 percent of whom were exposed in mahjong rooms; nearly 70 percent of them were at least 60 years old. Only 40 percent of Yangzhou’s elderly residents were vaccinated, and 448 people there have fallen ill; 23 of them have developed severe disease and 12 are in critical condition. Officials in Jiangsu province shut down over 45,000 chess and card rooms, as have authorities in Beijing, Henan, Zhejiang, Hunan and Heilongjiang. Source