Region has 27 active COVID cases

By Peter Loewi
Following last week’s announcement that the United Kingdom had approved Moderna’s “bivalent” COVID vaccine which partially targets the wildtype of the virus and partially targets the Omicron variant, Pfizer and BioNTech announced this week that they had asked the Food and Drug Administration for approval of their bivalent vaccine, which partially targets the BA.4/5 Omicron subvariant currently circulating.
The data Pfizer and BioNTech submitted, which was not released to the public, is pre-clinical data, meaning that these trials haven’t been conducted on people yet. Many scientists are comparing it to the annual flu vaccine, which requires only minor tweaks, instead of full, new clinical trials. The most recent human clinical trials are from the BA.1 bivalent vaccine, which appear to be more effective than the original vaccines, but according to a press release from the companies, “A clinical study investigating the safety, tolerability and immunogenicity of the Omicron BA.4/BA.5-adapted bivalent vaccine in individuals 12 years of age and older is expected to start this month.” The vaccine could be available to the public in September.
The FDA turned down the idea of BA.1 boosters this spring, because other variants had already taken hold, and asked manufacturers to instead focus on a BA.4/5 booster, as the variant, which remains dominant now, was rising. The original vaccines are still effective at preventing severe illness and death, but protection against infection is waning. For these reasons, the most vulnerable, and those over 50, have had a second booster available to them for some time now, but at this point, the FDA is preferring to wait for a BA.4/5 booster for everyone else.
For this round of COVID-19 vaccines, given the safety profile in previous vaccines and experience with vaccines against other viruses, the FDA is said to be making their decision based on only efficacy data from trials in mice. The new boosters will be made in the same way as the previous round of safe and effective vaccines but will contain coding to target an additional protein.
This move, which has both critics and supporters, is one of several being made by the federal government to increase agility in times of crisis. Dr. Rochelle Walensky, director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, also announced last week that the agency would be making a deep review of itself after three difficult pandemic years. Changes include speeding up data releases and improving communications, both of which the agency was criticized for repeatedly in the last several years.
In Nome and the Bering Straits School District, kids are back to school. Nome Public Schools is working with Norton Sound Health Corporation to plan a back-to-school vaccine clinic to make sure students and staff are protected heading into the new school year. A date has not been decided yet.
NSHC’s Medical Director Dr. Mark Peterson wrote in an email to The Nome Nugget: “There’s still a significant number of children who have not had their initial COVID vaccines. We have it available for anyone 6 months and older. We strongly recommend that children 6 months and up receive their COVID vaccinations. COVID vaccines can be received in our outpatient clinic. Parents/guardians can call our clinic at 443-3333 to ask for a nurse-only vaccination visit.”
That same number can be used for other missed vaccines, as well. “During the pandemic, some children got behind on their routine childhood vaccines. We are working hard to now catch those patients up,” Dr. Peterson wrote.
In Alaska, hospitalizations jumped state-wide after a several week decline, but cases have decreased both in residents and non-residents. Case rates are still high.

The week in numbers
On Tuesday, August 16, NSHC identified six new cases of COVID-19 in the region. There were two cases in Nome, two in Unalakleet, one in Brevig and one in Shishmaref. This made for a total of 18 active cases in the region, with 12 in Nome, three in Unalakleet, and one in each of Brevig, Gambell, and Shishmaref.
On Thursday, August 18, NSHC identified eight new cases of COVID-19. Three were in Nome, two were in Savoonga, and one each was identified in Elim, Gambell and Shishmaref. This made for 24 active cases in the region. Eleven of the active cases were in Nome, Savoonga had six, Shishmaref and Unalakleet both had two, and Brevig, Elim, and Gambell each had one. Several cases in Savoonga from the previous day which hadn’t been reported were added to the active case count.
Over the weekend, from Friday, August 19 to Sunday, August 21, NSHC identified 13 new cases. In total, 11 of the new cases were in Nome. Unalakleet and Savoonga each had one. Active cases in the region sat at 18. Twelve of them were in Nome, four were in Savoonga, and Shishmaref and Unalakleet each had one.
On Monday, August 22, NSHC identified 15 new cases across the region. Seven of the cases were in Savoonga, five were in Nome, and Shaktoolik, Unalakleet, and White Mountain each had one.
As of press time, there were 27 active cases in the region, with 13 in Nome, 10 in Savoonga, two in Unalakleet and one case in both Shishmaref and White Mountain.
Since the start of the pandemic, the United States has had 93,393,407 officially reported cases of COVID-19 and 1,035,469 associated deaths.
Alaska has had at least 277,007 cases, 3,843 hospitalizations and 1,296 deaths. There are currently 86 people hospitalized due to COVID-19.
Nome and the Norton Sound and Bering Strait region has had at least 6,349 cases, 48 hospitalizations and six deaths.