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报纸测试第五次范围
China Daily / 2021-03 / 31 / Page001
Xi stresses role of revolutionary cultural relics
China Daily / 2021-03 / 31 / Page001
SHANGHAI BUILDS ON ITS SMART APPROACH
China Daily / 2021-03 / 31 / Page009
Bid to weaken cotton sector fated to fail
China Daily / 2021-03 / 31 / Page013
Clean energy efforts to get fresh impetus
China Daily / 2021-04 / 07 / Page001
China shares experience in poverty relief
China Daily / 2021-04 / 07 / Page003
Expressway network spreads across nation
China Daily / 2021-04 / 07 / Page012
Volunteers help push back racism
China Daily / 2021-04 / 07 / Page016
International appeal
Additional reading 1:
Study: COVID-19 Vaccine Is Safe During Pregnancy And May Protect Baby, Too
A new study finds that COVID-19 vaccines produce effective levels of antibodies in pregnant and breastfeeding women. They may benefit babies as well.
Jamie Grill/Getty Images
Since the pandemic began, pregnant people have faced a difficult choice: to vaccinate or not to vaccinate.
The risk of severe disease or even death from COVID-19 — while small — is higher during pregnancy. More than 82,000 coronavirus infections among pregnant individuals and 90 maternal deaths from the disease have been reported in the U.S. as of last month.
But there's very little data on whether the COVID-19 vaccines are safe and effective during pregnancy, because people who are pregnant or breastfeeding weren't included in the initial clinical trials. (Pfizer recently began a new trial with 4,000 pregnant women.)
Now, researchers are beginning to provide some answers. A study published recently in The American Journal of Obstetrics and Gynecology shows the vaccines are not only safe and effective for pregnant and breastfeeding women, they may also offer some protection for their babies.
"It's a very important study," says Dr. Judette Louis, an obstetrician who until recently served as president of the Society for Maternal Fetal Medicine. "People have been trying to piece together as much information as they can and this study says, OK there is a benefit."
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Though limited — with a sample size of 131 — the study is the largest to date on the topic. Lead author Dr. Kathryn Gray, maternal fetal medicine specialist at Brigham and Women's Hospital in Boston, says people were eager to take part.
"People were just volunteering to give us any sort of sample that they could to try to help generate data," Gray says.
The 131 participants had been vaccinated with either the Pfizer or Moderna vaccine; 84 were pregnant, 31 were lactating, and 16 were nonpregnant 18- to 45-year-old women. The study involved patients and researchers at Brigham and Women's Hospital, Massachusetts General Hospital and the Ragon Institute.
Blood samples were collected at the time of the first and second dose of vaccine, and again after six weeks.
"The levels of antibodies, which is what we're looking for in response to vaccination, were similar between the groups," Gray says.
And when researchers compared the antibody levels to those of women who had been sick with COVID-19 during pregnancy, the antibody levels in response to the vaccine were higher.
That finding "suggests that even if you've had COVID infection, getting the vaccine will lead to a more robust antibody response," says Gray.
Side effects from the vaccinations were mild and similar to those of nonpregnant people, including soreness at the injection site after the first dose and some muscle aches, headache, fever and chills after the second dose, Gray says.
But perhaps the most exciting discovery: Antibodies were also found in umbilical cord blood and breast milk.
"If those antibodies are produced in pregnancy and while breastfeeding, the baby is clearly getting some of that," says Dr. Laura Riley, an OB-GYN at New York-Presbyterian Hospital who chairs the department of obstetrics and gynecology at Weill Cornell Medicine.
Riley likens the process to that of the flu vaccine: When given during pregnancy, it produces antibodies that cross the placenta and are "protective for the baby for the first several months of life," she says.
The hope is the COVID vaccine will be similar, although Riley cautions it's not yet clear if it will protect the baby from getting sick or how long that protection would last. "But it's certainly nice to see that there is protection," she says.
NewYork-Presbyterian has also started a study looking at how effective the vaccine is during pregnancy, says Riley, who is also a member of the COVID-19 expert work group for the American College of Obstetricans and Gynecologists. Among the questions she has is whether there's an optimal trimester for getting the COVID vaccine to maximize its benefits.
And as it becomes more available, the Johnson & Johnson vaccine needs to be included in future studies.
So while the current findings are very encouraging, Riley says more research is needed.
As for people who are trying to decide whether to get vaccinated right now, Dr. Judette Louis tells her patients to weigh the benefits against the risks.
"We haven't seen any safety problems with the vaccine, but we certainly see worse outcomes if you catch COVID," says Louis, who is also chair of obstetrics and gynecology at the University of South Florida.
"If you're pregnant, you are more likely to end up in the intensive care unit, you're more likely to end up on a ventilator. And slightly more like to die," Louis says.
Compare that to if you get the vaccine: "It doesn't just protect you from catching severe COVID and ending up in the hospital. It seems to pass on some antibodies to your baby."
Louis and other obstetricians are encouraging their pregnant patients to take part in the CDC's V-safe program, which is trying to gather as much data as possible to help others make informed decisions about COVID-19 vaccination.
Additional reading 2:
COVID-19 Vaccination Has Been Conjuring Up Emotions And Memories
The emotions around receiving the COVID-19 vaccine have been overwhelming for some and resonate with earlier experiences.
Allen J. Schaben/Los Angeles Times via Getty Images
After a year of fear, stress and isolation, the COVID-19 vaccine often produces more than a little pinch of sensation in your arm.
The experience also stirs strong emotions. Some feel relief. Others gratitude. Many are overcome and start crying.
Some people say the freedom squelched by the pandemic is beginning to return. That feeling of liberty is familiar to those who have survived previous epidemics.
On a spring afternoon in 1954, 1-year-old Gloria Anderson played with a group of toddlers in Billings, Mont. Two days later her mother learned that one of the other children had contracted polio. Within days Anderson started feeling sick — first a bit of nausea, then fever. Her mom gasped when she put Anderson in a high chair and saw that she could only move her right leg.
"I was kicking one leg," Anderson says. "And my mom stuck the pin in my left leg, and I didn't move it."
They rushed her to the hospital where she quarantined for three weeks. Even her mother couldn't visit. The left side of her body was paralyzed, and the prognosis was tragic — she would never walk again.
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But Anderson was one of the lucky ones. Her immobility was temporary, and six months later she took her first steps.
In rare cases, you can contract polio twice. So when the polio vaccine arrived in 1955, Anderson's mother raced her two daughters to the doctor's office.
"It was a sugar cube," Anderson says. "And we all took it. And my mom was radiant!"
Radiant because her girls were safe. But the disease scarred Anderson both physically and emotionally for life. The left side of her body never fully recovered, and she's had to endure numerous medical procedures over the years. Now in her 60s, Anderson started falling a lot and eventually had to get fitted for a leg brace. It's a daily reminder of her illness as a small child.
Because a virus almost killed her and still affects her life today, Anderson took the coronavirus seriously from the start. She and her husband religiously sheltered in place, and if they had to leave their home they wore masks. They desperately missed their grandchildren.
"There's heartache," Anderson says. "These are hard times. But we do it for one another."
Like her mother six decades ago, Anderson was beaming after recently receiving her second vaccine shot.
Viral trauma
Leo Herrera also felt a familiar sense of relief when a nurse inserted a second dose of the COVID-19 vaccine into his arm. The past 12 months marked the second time the 39-year-old watched a virus rip through his community. COVID-19 has disproportionately hit both Latinos and LGBTQ people.
"I'm a gay man," says the San Francisco resident. "I have a lot of viral trauma from the HIV pandemic. I'm also a first-generation Mexican immigrant who grew up undocumented. So there's a lot of overlap between the two pandemics."
Back in 2012, Herrera was dating an HIV-positive man. That same year PrEP, a daily pill that prevents the user from contracting the virus, hit the market. But, just like the vaccine rollout today, access tilted toward affluent communities with good insurance.
"It took years for PrEP to be distributed widely to folks of color and folks without health care," Herrera says.
And just like today, a lot of media focused on unknowns. Would the pill lead to toxicity? Bone density issues? Maybe kidney problems?
In the end, Herrera took a leap of faith. The mental health benefits outweighed the potential physical risks.
"The first time I had sex without a condom with an HIV-positive person was a freedom and a loss of shame and anxiety that was phenomenal," he says.
Jonathan Salinas can relate. Even though the 23-year-old San Francisco resident didn't endure the AIDS crisis, the virus haunts his generation, as well.
"When I was growing up as a gay man I was told that HIV should always be in the periphery or around the conversations of sex," he says. So, when he learned about PrEP during a visit to Planned Parenthood he was thrilled to start taking the daily pill.
"As soon as I got on PrEP, that anxiety, that weight off of my shoulders, it lifted almost immediately because I felt empowered," he says.
Salinas was filled with a similar sense of relief when he received his COVID-19 vaccine. He hasn't visited his relatives for months out of fear he'd bring the virus home.
"I just felt so much hope," he says about getting the vaccine.
A beat too long
While driving to get his second COVID-19 shot, Leo Herrera stopped for gas. When he walked inside the station to pay, he passed a group of people not wearing masks.
"And I thought, 'Oh, man. I cannot wait for this to be the last time that I have to focus on what everybody else is doing to take care of me. I can finally take that power back, ' " he says, grinning.
He's looking forward to the time when most people are vaccinated. When he finds himself at a wedding reception or a bar, and without thinking he can open his arms to hug a stranger. "And the hug is going to go on for a beat too long," he says. "And you're going to hold on to that stranger, and you're both going to realize what that hug means."