Keynote 189 overall survival update8/31/2023 ![]() We encourage our community members to weigh the risks and benefits of travel during this winter. With the year-end holidays around the corner and an anticipated increase in travel, the CDC has extended its travel advisory to include the winter break. However, it is important to keep in mind that it will take a considerable amount of time before the entire US population is either vaccinated or immune to COVID-19 through natural infection. This huge milestone is a positive step towards fighting the COVID-19 pandemic. The New York Times reported that large-scale manufacturing and distribution of vaccines has already begun, with the first dosing to start on December 14, 2020. For a description of how mRNA vaccines work, please check our last update available here. On December 11, the United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA) issued an Emergency Use Authorization (EUA) for the first SARS-CoV-2 mRNA vaccine, BNT162b2 manufactured by the pharmaceutical giant, Pfizer. The number of deaths has jumped 39 percent, with the United States surpassing 3,000 deaths in 1 day for the first time.The number of hospitalizations has increased by 21 percent.The number of new cases is up more than 20 percent from 2 weeks ago.With 80% of US counties reporting more travel than last year over Thanksgiving weekend in November 2020 despite warnings from the CDC, we are finally seeing the impact of this holiday surge. Since then, the country has reported 15,718,811 cases and 294,535 deaths as of December 12 (per the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention). The first case of COVID-19 in the USA was reported on -over 10 months ago. We must rapidly increase vaccination efforts nationwide.ĭecem| Download the statement as a PDF Update to the Joint Statement on COVID-19 from Lung Cancer Advocacy Groups.We must increase our efforts around contact tracing and identifying pockets of these new variants.If the variants are more easily transmitted, this could overburden our fragile healthcare system, which is under enormous strain from the holiday surge.We should remain vigilant in practicing public health measures, including wearing masks, washing hands and watching our distance.What are the immediate implications for our community? It is still expected that current vaccines will offer some degree of protection against the new variants. More studies are needed to confirm the impact of these variants on transmissibility (how easily virus spreads between people), infectivity (how easily it enters the body’s cells), disease severity, immune response and vaccine efficacy. There are concerns that the South African variant may not be as susceptible to current vaccines. it can pass more easily from an infected person to a non-infected person. In the case of the UK variant, it appears to be more transmissible i.e. Different viruses with different “constellations” of mutations are arising independently in different locations around the globe. Multiple states are now reporting the presence of the variant first detected in the UK. There has been a lot of media attention on new variants of the virus that have been detected in the UK, South Africa and even here in the US. As you can see from the table below, both vaccines are equally effective, and the choice of vaccine may be dependent on the state you live in or what your hospital offers. Here we offer a quick comparison of the Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna vaccines (note, we will not discuss the Oxford/AstraZeneca vaccine as it is not yet approved here in the US). Vaccine comparisonĪs vaccines become more widely available, people are asking if one vaccine is better than another. All of the leading oncology professional societies have also issued similar statements, including ASCO, AACR, ESMO, and SITC. Fred Hirsch, Paul Bunn and John Minna and representing a global assembly of leaders in thoracic oncology, virology, immunology, vaccines, advocacy, as well as the NCI and FDA, wrote a statement urging officials to prioritize ALL patients with cancer, but especially those with lung cancer for vaccination. During our hiatus from these updates, the COVID Lung Cancer Consortium, convened by Drs. Prioritization of Patients with CancerĪs patient advocates, we have been actively involved in discussions to urge the prioritization of patients with lung cancer for vaccination against COVID-19. Now, there is growing emphasis on vaccinating those over age 75 or with existing co-morbidities. Initially, there was an effort to vaccinate healthcare workers and other essential workers. By now, you are probably familiar with the concept of the “phased approach” for vaccine roll-out. Now that the vaccines are here, many people wonder when they will be eligible to receive one or even if they should get one. How do you know if you have lung cancer?.
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