The threat of an Omicron-driven surge may be looming over Christmas this year, but news from Moderna this morning offered a glimmer of hope. The company said that in lab tests, a booster shot at the currently authorized dose generates more antibodies that can help to neutralize the new variant. Coupled with preliminary evidence that Pfizer’s own booster shot also protects people from Omicron, the latest data suggest that a three-dose course of an mRNA shot is the best way to ensure protection during the next stage of the pandemic.
While the evidence is promising, it’s still incomplete, as it doesn’t show how well the booster will work in people exposed to Omicron outside of the lab, as my colleague Alice Park reports. To assess the booster’s effectiveness, Moderna tested whether blood from 20 people who had received the booster at the currently authorized dose—50 µg, a half-dose of the original shot—and 20 people who had received a third full dose of 100 µg could neutralize Omicron. The researchers found that the half-dose generated a 37-fold increase in antibodies, while the full dose increased antibodies 83-fold.
For now, it’s still unclear what all this will mean for boosters in the future. Moderna hasn’t yet said, for example, whether it will ask the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to authorize the higher dose booster. The company is also testing another version of the shot that specifically targets Omicron. What does seem evident, however, is that if you were vaccinated at least six months ago, getting a booster shot now is one of the most effective things you can do to protect yourself against getting severely ill from Omicron.
More than 274.7 million people around the world had been diagnosed with COVID-19 as of 12 a.m. E.T. today, and more than 5.3 million people have died. On Dec. 19, there were 486,407 new cases and 4,728 new deaths confirmed globally.
Here's how the world as a whole is currently trending:
Here's where daily cases have risen or fallen over the last 14 days, shown in confirmed cases per 100,000 residents:
And here's every country that has reported over 5 million cases:
The U.S. had recorded more than 50.8 million coronavirus cases as of 12 a.m. E.T. today. More than 806,400 people have died. On Dec. 19, there were 70,815 new cases and 137 new deaths confirmed in the U.S.
Here's how the country as a whole is currently trending:
Here's where daily cases have risen or fallen over the last 14 days, shown in confirmed cases per 100,000 residents:
All numbers unless otherwise specified are from the Johns Hopkins University Center for Systems Science and Engineering, and are accurate as of Dec. 20, 1 a.m. E.T. To see larger, interactive versions of these maps and charts, click here.
WHAT ELSE YOU SHOULD KNOW
Senators Cory Booker of New Jersey and Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts tested positive for COVID-19, the legislators announcedseparately on Twitter yesterday. Each said that they are experiencing mild symptoms from their breakthrough cases, and that they are grateful they’d been fully vaccinated and received booster shots.
As a growing number of professional athletes test positive for COVID-19, the National Basketball Association and the National Hockey League announced that games originally scheduled for the next few days will be postponed. The NBA said that five games will be postponed, affecting four teams: the Cleveland Cavaliers, the Orlando Magic, the Philadelphia 76ers and the Brooklyn Nets. Meanwhile, the NHL and the NHL Players Association announced that all cross-border games between American and Canadian teams scheduled before Dec. 23 will be rescheduled. The league and association also said they are “actively discussing” NHL players’ participation in the 2022 Winter Olympics in Beijing.
Israel added the United States and Canada to its list of countries where its citizens are banned from traveling without special permission due to the spread of Omicron today, the New York Times reports. Israel is not yet dealing with a new surge, but Prime Minister Naftali Bennett warned yesterday that the variant is already spreading in the country. 64% of people in the country have been fully vaccinated, and 46% have received boosters, per the Times. “The time that we bought is running out,” Bennett said.
Royal Caribbean announced that 48 guests and crew members on its Symphony of the Seas ship tested positive for COVID-19, NBC Miami reported yesterday. The cruise line requires all passengers over age 12 to be vaccinated and all passengers to be tested prior to boarding; it said that 98% of the positive cases were in fully vaccinated passengers. The cases were detected through contact tracing after a passenger tested positive, and each contact was required to quarantine, the company said, noting that those who tested positive either did not have symptoms or had mild cases.
Thanks for reading. We hope you find the Coronavirus Brief newsletter to be a helpful tool to navigate this very complex situation, and welcome feedback at coronavirus.brief@time.com. If you have specific questions you'd like us to answer, please send them to covidquestions@time.com.
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Today's newsletter was written by Tara Law and edited by Mandy Oaklander.
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