Early-stage antibody kinetics after the third dose of BNT162b2 mRNA COVID-19 vaccination measured by a point-of-care fingertip whole blood testing

Amid the Coronavirus Disease 2019 pandemic, we aimed to demonstrate the accuracy of the fingertip whole blood sampling test (FWT) in measuring the antibody titer and uncovering its dynamics shortly after booster vaccination. Mokobio SARS-CoV-2 IgM & IgG Quantum Dot immunoassay (Mokobio Biotechnology R&D Center Inc., MD, USA) was used as a point-of-care FWT in 226 health care workers (HCWs) who had received two doses of the BNT162b2 mRNA vaccine (Pfizer-BioNTech) at least 8 months prior. Each participant tested their antibody titers before and after the third-dose booster up to 14-days. The effect of the booster was observed as early as the fourth day after vaccination, which exceeded the detection limit (>30,000 U/mL) by 2.3% on the fifth day, 12.2% on the sixth day, and 22.5% after the seventh day. Significant positive correlations were observed between the pre- and post-vaccination (the seventh and eighth days) antibody titers (correlation coefficient, 0.405; p<0.001). FWT is useful for examining antibody titers as a point-of-care test. Rapid response of antibody titer started as early as the fourth day post-vaccination, while the presence of weak responders to BNT162b2 vaccine was indicated

Support for UNRWA's survival

The United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) provides life-saving humanitarian aid for 5·4 million Palestine refugees now entering their eighth decade of statelessness and conflict. About a third of Palestine refugees still live in 58 recognised camps. UNRWA operates 702 schools and 144 health centres, some of which are affected by the ongoing humanitarian disasters in Syria and the Gaza Strip. It has dramatically reduced the prevalence of infectious diseases, mortality, and illiteracy. Its social services include rebuilding infrastructure and homes that have been destroyed by conflict and providing cash assistance and micro-finance loans for Palestinians whose rights are curtailed and who are denied the right of return to their homeland

A descriptive analysis for the comparison of the symptoms and severity of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) in each epidemic period in Okayama City

　Japan experienced four major epidemic periods (i.e., the 3rd-6th waves) of COVID-19 from January 2020 to March 2022. A different strain predominated in each period: the wild-type strain, an Alpha variant, a Delta variant, and an Omicron variant were predominant in waves 3, 4, 5, and 6, respectively. In this study, we conducted a descriptive analysis to investigate the differences in symptoms and severity during each epidemic period. We analyzed a total of 31,037 patients with COVID-19 who were reported to the Okayama City Public Health Center between February 1, 2020 and March 31, 2022. We described and compared the proportion of symptoms, the number and proportion of severe COVID-19 cases, and the number and proportion of deaths for each epidemic period. We also compared the proportion of severe COVID-19 cases depending on the number of vaccinations for the 5th and 6th waves. 　Differences in symptoms and severity were observed in each epidemic period. In the 5th and 6th waves, the results suggested that vaccination had a preventive effect against severe COVID-19