As I mentioned I undertook a major review of the current situation over the past few weeks. The latest guidelines, herbal medicines/supplements and other beneficial measures have been checked through, incorporated into our program, and individualized for our clients.

Two full years after the pandemic began, it is now time to consider our next moves. In order to maintain a clear overview, I placed great emphasis on accurate documentation and ongoing information exchange right from the start. This meticulous approach, together with insights from science and research findings, enabled us to make precisely tailored recommendations for our clients. In the last few weeks and months, we have been gathering up loose ends and shifting our focus to appropriate preventive measures as well as preparations for the aftermath of the Covid-19 pandemic. In addition to shortening test intervals and adapting diagnostic methods, we will now also review the composition of our supplements to ensure that they are likewise optimally adjusted to the individual pandemic-related circumstances of our premium clients.

As mentioned on Long Covid and potential risk factors, the symptomatology of this condition can be very similar to the side-effects and possible long-term consequences of vaccination. While preliminary data suggests that getting yourself vaccinated significantly reduces your risk of succumbing to Long Covid, there have also been cases where vaccination has caused Long Covid-like symptoms – and for a lengthy period of time.

According to the latest figures, between 10 and 30 percent of all persons who test positive for SARS-CoV-2 go on to develop long-term symptoms that can last for weeks, months or potentially even years. These can vary greatly depending on the severity of the disease, the age of the patient and his or her medical history. When – or indeed whether – those who suffer so‑called “Long Covid” can expect their symptoms to clear up is unclear, and there is as is as yet no treatment for the condition that does more than just alleviate symptoms. A U.S.-based research group has now identified four factors that significantly increase the risk of Long Covid.

In the current circumstances, it is more important than ever to maintain a clear overview. The number of vaccinations and infections, the virus variants in circulation and the available vaccines, the course taken by an infection, possible side-effects and the administration of various drugs against severe COVID-19 – these are all factors that make our efforts to provide comprehensive protection more complex, requiring close attention and detailed documentation. Protection of the organism as a whole remains our priority, which is why we are now broadening the scope of our prophylactic concept and scheduled check-ups.

An end to the Omicron wave is in sight

All regulations and restrictions in England have now been removed (though not in Scotland, Wales or Northern Ireland where such decisions are devolved to regional parliaments). According to UK Health Minister Sajid Javid, England will be the most open country in Europe. Omicron cases also appear to be peaking in the United States, although the number of deaths has not yet shown any sign of falling away. On Tuesday, Pfizer/BioNtech announced the start of clinical trials for their new Omicron vaccine. Meanwhile, a new Omicron subvariant is coming under global scrutiny.

Paxlovid received emergency approval in the USA just before Christmas, and it got the all-clear for use in Europe as early as January. This new medication could help reduce the number of people who fall severely ill with COVID-19, but supply shortages and manufacturing problems are so far hindering widespread distribution.

Our Situation report in the run-up to Christmas

The Omicron variant continues on its triumphant march around the globe. According to the World Health Organization, the mutant has already been detected in 89 countries, and more are being added to the list every day. Even in places with high immunity rates, the spread is rapid, and the number of confirmed Omicron cases is doubling every one and a half to three days in some countries. If it continues at its current rate, Omicron will be the prevalent form of SARS-CoV-2 in Europe in around two to four weeks. The UK is one of the first countries to be hit hard – Omicron is already the dominant form there, constituting 60% of new cases. Worryingly, a new study from England does not give much hope for the new variant leading to a significantly milder course of disease.

Teams of researchers around the world are working hard to understand the new Omicron variant of the coronavirus. It is the most highly differentiated among the five variants that have so far qualified for the World Health Organization classification “variant of concern” since the pandemic began.

We look at the strategies employed by viruses against this tumor suppressor gene.

Since the onset of the pandemic, research has been conducted into the extent to which SARS-Cov-2 affects the p53 tumor suppressor gene and its pathway. Two widely published studies from 2020 and 2021 have provided interesting insights into this, revealing the molecular strategies by means of which viruses such as SARS-CoV-2 target the p53 function. It is also interesting to compare the combat strategies of other viruses with those of SARS-CoV-2, and we will also briefly discuss this below.

Infection Omicron was first detected in South Africa last week, leading countries around the globe, including the United States, to impose travel restrictions on the southern African nation and at least seven others in the region. The new Omicron coronavirus variant kept spreading around the world on Sunday, with 13 cases found in the Netherlands and two each in Denmark and Australia, even as more countries tried to seal themselves off by imposing travel restrictions. The variant has now been detected in Britain, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Denmark, Belgium, Botswana, Israel, Australia and Hong Kong.

Infection rates in Germany, Austria and the Netherlands have risen to a new and worrying high. Hospitals have had to postpone planned surgical procedures, and intensive care units are rapidly filling up. The situation in Germany is unfortunately a forerunner of what is likely to happen in the United States soon. The UK had the unwelcome distinction of being ahead of the curve in Western Europe, although the rate there now seems to be leveling off. We expect the current fourth wave will hit the USA in a few weeks. There are two main reasons for this: firstly, waning vaccine efficacy paired with vaccine breakthroughs, and secondly, the slow progress being made by the booster vaccination campaign. More and more studies are showing what we already concluded a few weeks ago, namely that the protection afforded by the vaccines is declining at a rapid rate and that antibody counts are also falling fast.

The development of effective drugs against COVID-19 has lagged behind that of vaccines. Recently, however, two major manufacturers have reported promising results from studies they have conducted. The UK has already granted approval to one of the new drugs. We assess the current state of play below.

The Currently, three anti-SARS-CoV-2 MAB products have received Emergency Use Authorization (EUA) from the FDA for the treatment of mild to moderate COVID-19 in non-hospitalized patients with laboratory-confirmed SARS-CoV-2 infection who are at high risk for progressing to severe disease and/or hospitalization. The issuance of an EUA does not constitute FDA approval.

The number of infections worldwide is on the increase, and with it, the number of vaccine breakthroughs. However, it is not only the rising rate of infection that is the root cause of this, but also the waning effect of the vaccines themselves. Nevertheless, individuals without any form of immunization are significantly less protected against COVID‑19 disease, and the mRNA booster jabs seem to be delivering on their promise of offering almost complete protection. There are multiple factors at play here that will continue to occupy our attention this winter. In the meantime, this is how we see the current situation.

Social distancing, face coverings and strict hygiene controls not only reduced the spread of SARS-CoV-2 last year but also of influenza viruses. Flu activity is currently still at a low level, but nonetheless slightly higher than at this time in previous years. Researchers and authorities in the USA and Europe are predicting that a particularly virulent wave of influenza will hit the northern hemisphere in the winter months of 2021/22 and are therefore advising senior citizens to get a shot of the relatively new high-dose vaccines. What exactly are high-dose vaccines? And what can we expect from this year’s crop of flu vaccines? 

Many people who are skeptical of mRNA technology have been waiting for a conventional vaccine against coronavirus to come along. “Classic” vaccines are traditionally based on proteins. However, the one formulated by Novavax has a major disadvantage, specifically its ability to provide long-term protection against virus variants.

The Delta variant of coronavirus does not appear to lead to a more severe course of disease in children than earlier forms of the virus, such as the Alpha or Beta variants. This finding emerged from a prospective symptom study conducted in the UK, in which British school-aged children were compared for symptomatic COVID-19 courses over different time periods.

As winter approaches in the northern hemisphere, booster vaccinations are being rolled out with the aim of giving maximum protection to the elderly, the immunocompromised and professionals exposed to the virus. The administration of booster jabs against Covid-19 is a new concept and one that is likely to be with us for the foreseeable future, as the efficacy of the vaccines against Covid-19 wears off over time. According to the manufacturer of the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine, it loses approximately six percent of its effectiveness every two months, but our experience has shown that this is a conservative estimate.
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Merck Sharp and Dohme (MSD), the US pharmaceutical giant based in Kenilworth, New York, last week reported positive results from a Phase III trial of its new corona drug, molnupiravir. The manufacturer claim that it alleviates the course of the COVID-19 disease and halves the risk of hospitalization or death from a coronavirus infection. The potentially groundbreaking results promise a new way of treating COVID-19 and herald the first of hopefully many more antiviral drugs.
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The issue of booster vaccination has risen high on the agenda, and every country is taking a different approach to it. Israel, Austria and Russia are already offering booster jabs to the general population, whereas Belgium, the United Kingdom, Denmark, Finland, France, Ireland, Italy, Spain and Sweden are restricting them to the immunocompromised or elderly. Germany will reach its own national decision in early October, and in the United States, the FDA announced last week that it had approved boosters, albeit on a more restrictive basis than had been expected.
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Where are we now, almost two years into the pandemic? Nine months after the first vaccines for the prevention of Covid-19 were approved, are there any conclusions that can be reliably drawn? Since December 2020, 2.39 billion people worldwide have been vaccinated against Covid-19, with a total of 5.82 billion doses having been administered. Just under 30% of the world’s population has thus been fully vaccinated, and in the United States that figure has now passed the 50% mark.
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Dr Robert Hess has a special interest in this topic, because for some of our premium members the conventional vaccination against Covid-19 is not an option or even can be counterproductive. We see these new concepts as possible solutions for additional protection against coronavirus infection without the need for vaccination.
In certain cases, monoclonal antibodies (MAK) are considered to be a promising drug against severe disease progression in SARS-CoV-2 infection and have been used in the clinical setting for some time. In this context, we are particularly interested in the question of whether and, if so, when antibody therapy might also be used in the context of prophylaxis against a covid infection.

As experts in the field of human and molecular genetics and thus also on the topic of mutations, we provide regular updates and forecasts of where the pandemic might be heading. Recently, new discoveries have come into the frame, so we have summarized these findings for you and added our own assessment.

CureVac’s first-generation vaccine candidate CVnCoV unfortunately fell by the wayside in mid-June after failing to meet the statistical criteria for success, but there is now news regarding a modified second-generation vaccine candidate, which CureVac has developed in collaboration with British pharmaceutical giant GSK.

As we have explained in previous Keynotes, our body’s own interferon system plays an important role in the activation and modulation of the immune defenses. In this update, we will focus on what happens when there is a failure to activate the type I interferons (IFN-I) and on the risks that this poses. IFN-I is of immense importance in relation to the body’s own virus defense and thus highly relevant in the context of the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic.

The Pfizer/BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine first received Emergency Use Authorization (EUA) from the U.S. authorities in mid-December 2020 for administration to persons aged 16 and older. On Monday, the FDA announced that it has now granted full approval. The vaccine has thus become the first to receive FDA approval for use against coronavirus. More are expected to follow in the coming weeks and months. Emergency Use Authorization continues to apply for use on adolescents aged 12 to 15 years and for administration as a third booster dose to immunocompromised individuals. Further monitoring of the vaccine’s safety and efficacy remains mandatory, even after approval, and will be carried out assiduously.

Any decision on whether to receive a booster jab (and which one to choose) or to wait for a next-generation vaccine should be based on the following criteria.

For the first time since the SARS-CoV-2 Task Force was established 18 months ago, a difference of opinion has arisen, specifically with regard to the Lambda variant. What everyone agrees on is that the Lambda or C.37 variant is clearly more contagious than the original Wuhan strain. In addition, it is much more resistant to antibodies, and the existing vaccines therefore have a reduced efficacy against it. The reason for this is three mutations in the spike protein, which render it less susceptible to neutralization by antibodies. Added to which there are two mutations that make the variant itself more infectious.

In focus: Vaccine side-effects versus post-acute sequelae (“Long Covid”).

The Delta variant of the novel coronavirus, which is causing concern across the whole of Europe, is now starting to show up in America. BioNTech and its manufacturing partner Pfizer announced last Friday that they are developing an updated version of the Pfizer/BioNTech Covid-19 vaccine that will target the complete spike protein of this latest variant. They also stated that the first batch of this vaccine consisting of approximately 20,000 doses has already been produced at the Mainz plant in Germany. The clinical trials are due to start in August this year.

So far, we have been testing only one of the two immunity pillars, namely antibody production. In addition to checking the full range of antibodies, Dr Robert Hess goes far beyond the generally applied classification to differentiate between the neutralizing antibodies and identify efficacy classes – low, medium and high – plus ADE antibodies which may even have the undesired effect of amplifying an infection. From now on, we will also be measuring the second Covid-19 immune pillar – namely T cell immunity – in great detail. For this purpose, we have upgraded our Covid-19 Immunization Program with the inclusion of the new SARS-CoV-2 T-Cell immunity analysis.

So far, we have been testing only one of the two immunity pillars, namely antibody production. In addition to checking the full range of antibodies, we at Salvagene go far beyond the generally applied classification to differentiate between the neutralizing antibodies and identify efficacy classes – low, medium and high – plus ADE antibodies which may even have the undesired effect of amplifying an infection. From now on, we will also be measuring the second Covid-19 immune pillar – namely T cell immunity – in great detail. For this purpose, we have upgraded our Covid-19 Immunization Program with the inclusion of the new SARS-CoV-2 T-Cell immunity analysis.

Though the news was not entirely unexpected, we regret to report that the breakthrough vaccine promised by CureVac will now not be forthcoming. There are a number of reasons for this, but the main factor was the high demands that CureVac itself placed on the product. The aim was to develop a vaccine that was as natural as possible – ideally the most natural vaccine to date. In the end, it was the much-debated issue of vaccine-induced side-effects and long-term effects that thwarted their endeavor.

There is one thing we can be certain of, however, namely that the protection afforded by vaccines does not live up to the claims made by their manufacturers. We strongly disagree with the assertion that “vaccine protection will remain at the same high level for approximately one year, so that we can get into an annual vaccination cycle like the one we have for influenza.” This is the reason why we set up our SARS-CoV-2 Antibody Profile Monitoring for Premium clients at the start of this year, measuring levels of SARS-CoV-2 antibodies as well as T-helper cells specific to SARS-CoV-2 and thereby covering both pillars of the immune response.

In India, the Delta variant has been responsible for a sharp increase in the number of infections, illnesses and fatalities. The health system there is at breaking point. In the meantime, the Delta variant has also been discovered in other parts of the world, especially in the UK, which is a country where virus variants are monitored with exemplary thoroughness. It is expected that the Delta variant will supplant Alpha (B.1.1.7), which has been the most widespread variant so far. According to official data, Delta is currently present in nine out of ten samples sent for analysis.

At the time, we came in for considerable criticism for our assessment that the probability of a laboratory accident having released the virus was around 60%, and we were even accused of stirring up a conspiracy theory.