COVID-19 Coronavirus, HPAI H5N1, Measles, Vaccinations and Virus UK and World News Update 27th June 2025
Last report I mentioned NB.1.8.1 Nimbus COVID variant. It's still under close scrutiny and expected to cause a COVID wave around the world due to its speed, and ability to bypass older immunity. In May, the US CDC's airport surveillance program began detecting cases in travellers from a range of countries. By the last week of May it accounted for almost half of the cases they detected.
In the last 4 weeks, of those samples which have been sequenced and uploaded to GISAID, NB.1.8.1 has accounted for 81.8% of cases in Hong Kong, 76.9% in China, 75% in Japan, 56.5% in South Korea, 45.6% in New Zealand, 40.3% in Australia, and it's spread to Europe at the rapid speed we were promised. 41.7% in the Netherlands, 37.5% in Finland, 23.8% in Norway, 21.5% in Ireland, 20% in Portugal, 19.5% in Germany, 12.5% in the UK and 10% in France. Slightly slower domination in North America, but 21.1% of cases in Canada, and 9.9% in the USA.
Still no solid proof, but all word of mouth reports suggest that with NB.1.8.1 Nimbus variant you get a nasty sore throat like razor blades, and more people get a bad tummy than with other variants - however it does NOT appear to be more severe overall than other variants, it's just a bit rough, and it fills up hospital beds because of the number of patients catching it at once. Fun times ahead for those of us in the Northern hemisphere, and hopefully a bit of respite soon for the Southern hemisphere.
Today the World Health Organisation's Scientific Advisory Group on the Origins of Novel Pathogens (SAGO), released a report on the origins of SARS-CoV-2, the virus that caused the COVID19 pandemic.
They reviewed peer-reviewed papers and reviews, as well as unpublished information, field studies and other reports, and conducted briefings with researchers, academics and other experts.
The say this has advanced the understanding of the origins of COVID-19, but much of the information needed to evaluate fully all hypotheses is not there.
Therefore, the work to understand the origins of SARS-CoV-2 remains unfinished. Any further evidence will be reviewed should it become available.
The UK Government have accepted the advice from the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI) for the Autumn 2025 COVID-19 vaccination programme. Vaccination will be offered in England (and presumably the rest of the UK) in autumn 2025 to:
- adults 75 years and over
- residents in a care home for older adults
- individuals aged 6 months and over who are immunosuppressed, as defined in tables 3 and 4 of the COVID-19 chapter of the Green Book
They have reviewed evidence regarding Health and Social Care Workers (HSCW), and decided on this occasion that they will not be offered vaccinations.
The US FDA have approved Gilead's twice yearly HIV preventative injection Lencapavir. In 2 large scale human tests only 2 new cases were recorded among 2,180 participants, and 0 new cases from 2,138 participants.
Currently people at risk can take a daily dose of PrEP, but this solution is expensive and relies on the patient not forgetting or failing to take a daily dose for any reason. A bimonthly injection is also available, but at $240 per patient annually, it's too expensive for poorer countries and uptake has been low.
Gilead have granted licenses to 6 generic manufacturers to produce Lencapavir royalty-free for low cost sale to 120 lower income countries.
Middle-income countries including Brazil and Peru, which both have large HIV epidemics, will not be able to purchase the generics, so are hoping to come to an affordable agreement.
You might think another job loss at the US CDC would just be one of many, but this one speaks volumes. The official in charge of studying hospitalisation trends from infectious diseases (including COVID) has resigned in protest at RFK Jr's changes to vaccine recommendations.
According to CBS News, shortly before resigning, Ms Havers sent an email to her colleagues:
"I no longer have confidence that these data will be used objectively or evaluated with appropriate scientific rigor to make evidence-based vaccine policy decisions."
As RFK Jr has made changes all by himself and against advice (e.g. COVID jabs for pregnant women), I think Ms Havers makes a fair point...
Another new study has found that survivors of COVID have "long-term neurological and cognitive impact" - it damages our brains.
Published in BMC Neurology, the study is a meta-analysis (compiles results from lots of other studies) including over 4 million unique patients from 125 studies across 33 countries between 2020 and 2024. It's pretty massive. All studies had a follow up of at least 6 months (after which some had dropped out).
I can't possibly give all the results here, so I'll give the averages for all patients at 6-9 months and 9-12 months after infection, regardless of how poorly they were, whether they were hospitalised or not, and whether they were looking back (recollecting and using medical records) or being asked at the time:
Fatigue: 6-9m = 51% / 9-12m = 24.9%
Anxiety: 6-9m = 15.9% / 9-12m = 8.7%
Cognitive Impairment: 6-9m = 27.4% / 9-12m = 23.1%
Dizziness: 6-9m = 18.1% / 9-12m = 8.7%
Depression: 6-9m = 18.8% / 9-12m = 6.9%
Headache: 6-9m = 24.7% / 9-12m = 13.6%
Memory Problems: 6-9m = 36.4% / 9-12m = 17.4%
Impaired Concentration: 6-9m = 25.9% / 9-12m = 21.7%
Stress: 6-9m = 18.4% / 9-12m = 8%
Sleep Disorders: 6-9m = 33.1% / 9-12m = 14%
It's been noted repeatedly that around 1 in every 5 (20%) people who catch COVID have long term after-effects, known as Long COVID or Post Acute Sequelae of COVID Infection (PASC), and that risk exists EVERY TIME you catch it. Regardless, we have our 'new normal' and the world is just getting on with it. Still, seems wise to try and keep your infections to a minimum...
Despite already firing the entire US Advisory Committee on Immunisation Practices (ACIP) panel because he claimed he wanted to get rid of "conflicts of interest", and then forming a panel including several well-known anti-vaccine and/or evidence-opposed people, RFK Jr went a step further. This week's ACIP meeting had a presentation and vote on thimerosal, a mercury-containing component which was removed from most vaccines decades ago, from nurse Lyn Redwood. Lyn blames vaccinations for her own child's autism. She previously headed 'Children’s Health Defense', which was founded by RFK Jr and campaigns on the subject of vaccines causing autism (which has been debunked so many times, and by studying so many millions of children, that it's utterly boring).
Somewhat importantly only approximately 4-7% of the multi-dose flu vaccinations in the US still use thimerosal as a preservative. These are almost always given to adults, and kids get the single dose nasal spray, so getting rid of thimerosal completely might be doubly pointless as regards their aim of 'preventing kids developing neurodevelopmental disorders', but it isn't actually hard or expensive.
To add insult to this already striking conflict of interest, on Thursday Lyn was announced as a new 'special government employee' in the CDC vaccine safety office.
The Guardian published an article about the upcoming ACIP committee meeting, in which they said thimerosal was "safe". RFK Jr must have had a spare hour (or at least someone did), because he replied with a huge post on X attempting to prove it wasn't. That post was then debunked by fact-checkers, including Jake Scott MD, Clinical Associate Professor of Medicine - Infectious Diseases at Stanford University, who went through it line by line.
Among other things RFK made errors with his maths, cited studies that had different results to every other study since, and continued to say thimerosal was linked to Autism despite masses of evidence showing it isn’t (including Autism diagnoses increasing since it was removed from vaccines). Erm... yeah. That didn't really go well Bob...
When the slides for the ACIP presentation were published online, they referred to a study in rats linking thimerosal with neurodevelopmental problems. It didn't take long for people to notice this study didn’t exist, including the bloke named as author, Dr. Robert F. Berman. He has studied thimerosal, and found no associated problems, so he was quite annoyed. That slide was swiftly amended and the bogus study removed.
And that, ladies and gentlemen, is why you don't get AI to do your work for you - it attempts to please you and will make some fabulous errors in the process.
Despite the debate and media in the run up, the first meeting of new CDC ACIP vaccine panel was actually fairly sane. Pah, no, I'm kidding. Before it even began one of RFK Jr's new hires, Dr. Michael Ross, resigned because he didn't want to sell shares in conflicting businesses. Procedures for fact-checking presentations weren't followed, some CDC evidence wasn't presented, the debate over Thimerosal was pointless and increases vaccine-hesitancy, and there were 'interesting' questions from panellists, including asking CDC staff for clarification on how trials are conducted and how the human immune system works, and whether a “pattern of broad-based energy of some type” could be responsible for the surge in flu deaths. *Sigh...*
Half the panel are needed for a vote to pass. Previously this was 8 from 17. Now the panel was down to 7, only 4 had to agree. This was a meeting of the panel responsible for the health of 330m people.
ACIP will be creating 2 new sub groups to review the US childhood immunisation schedule and how the different vaccines interact with each other, and to re-evaluate any vaccine that hasn't been reviewed in at least 7 years. They approved updated recommendations for a new vaccination for respiratory syncytial virus (RSV), which will be given to all US babies under eight months old during respiratory virus season. They also voted to recommend people avoid the approximately 4% of US flu vaccines that use the preservative thimerosal. They decided they will recommend COVID vaccinations this Autumn, but not who they'll recommend them to, which puts a lot of folk in limbo, and will be the difference between individuals having to pay themselves, or insurance footing the bill.
ACIP will be creating 2 new sub groups to review the US childhood immunisation schedule and how the different vaccines interact with each other, and to re-evaluate any vaccine that hasn't been reviewed in at least 7 years. They approved updated recommendations for a new vaccination for respiratory syncytial virus (RSV), which will be given to all US babies under eight months old during respiratory virus season. They also voted to recommend people avoid the approximately 4% of US flu vaccines that use the preservative thimerosal. They decided they will recommend COVID vaccinations this Autumn, but not who they'll recommend them to, which puts a lot of folk in limbo, and will be the difference between individuals having to pay themselves, or insurance footing the bill.
Just as a side note, because some people will only read the headlines (and fret despite all the evidence showing it is safe) thimerosal was actually removed from all routine Australian vaccines by 2000, and all UK and EU vaccines by 2005. We moved on.
Bolivia has declared a national emergency due to measles. From 24th April to 21st June 60 cases were reported.
They are focussing on prevention and mass vaccinations are to be offered, with 3,600 centres where people can take their children to be jabbed.
The CDC report that 3% of US measles cases so far this year are in vaccinated people, with an additional 2% in people who only received 1 dose of their MMR.
This statistic, when you turn it around, is excellent proof of how effective measles vaccines are, and backs up the figures from earlier trials, which say 2 doses will leave 97% of people fully protected, and 1 dose protects 93% of people.
As of the CDC update this week (24th June) US measles cases now total 1,227, it's a much slower increase thankfully.
Canada is still having somewhat of a nightmare. With a population of under 42m people, as of 14th June they'd reported a total of 3,381 measles cases (3,081 confirmed, 300 probable) across 9 jurisdictions (Alberta, British Columbia, Manitoba, Northwest Territories, Nova Scotia, Ontario, Prince Edward Island, Quebec, Saskatchewan).
This is beaten in number by Mexico, who have a population of almost 130m people, and 6,425 measles cases (2,041 confirmed and 4,382 probable).
England (not even whole UK, just England, population 57.1m) had 420 cases by 2nd June.
"The European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC) has issued a Rapid Risk Assessment in response to a multi-country outbreak of hepatitis A in the EU/EEA. A significant increase in hepatitis A virus (HAV) infections has been reported in Austria, Czechia, Hungary, and Slovakia between January and May 2025...
...Genetic sequencing suggests ongoing person-to-person transmission within connected social networks or geographical areas, rather than multiple unrelated outbreaks. These findings confirm cross-border transmission and underscore the need for coordinated public health action, as well as the importance of collaboration, timely detection, and targeted interventions."
ECDC
By 18th June the 4 affected countries had reported 2,097 confirmed cases.
Hepatitis A is an infectious liver disease and often young, healthy people (including children) don't have symptoms. There is no specific treatment, and usually people recover fully within 3-6 months, but it can be serious if you have lowered immunity or your liver is not in the best health. It spreads via poo, close physical contact or if infected people prepare food for others, and it can also spread in contaminated water.
There is a vaccine, which can be offered to those deemed to be at risk.
Once again, wash your hands regularly...
I hate to mention him again, but RFK Jr has announced, via a video, that the US is pulling all funding for GAVI, the Global Vaccine Alliance. They vaccinate children in poorer countries, and the US have until now provided around 13% of their funding. In his video RFK Jr said that GAVI has to work to “re-earn the public trust”, but really I think he's just talking about himself and some of his mates.
Unless the shortfall is met, GAVI estimate this could reduce vaccinations by around 75 million children over the next 5 years, costing as many as 1.2 million lives.
We honestly do not appreciate that which has not happened.
There's a special place in hell reserved for anyone who kills that many children.
In the US and in Europe, H5N1 avian flu is keeping a low profile. No new human cases have been detected, and despite Latvia being the latest country to register their first outbreak in poultry, cases in farmed or wild birds are low. Even the US dairy herds have only registered 2 new cases in the last 30 days. Sadly we're talking about flu, which is seasonal, so although this is obviously great news, it's the best of what you'd hope for this time of year.
The US Department of Agriculture have developed a plan for potential future vaccination of poultry against Avian Flu. Since 2022, 175 million birds have been culled, which has cost the industry dearly and raised the prices of eggs and meat. Vaccinating is not exactly cheap compared to the cost of the birds, and it could limit exports of poultry meat, but the situation is pretty dire right now. Especially for laying hens, it could save a lot of heartache and money. The plan will be ready for proposal next month. It would involve a vaccination and a booster, and will still include regular testing and culling of infected flocks.
Iowa has so far pretty much escaped the H5N1 Avian Flu in dairy cattle which has plagued the USA. Only 13 cows have ever tested positive, the last being in July 2024, so officials have decided that cattle entering the county fairs no longer need to be tested - although they will be inspected by vets.
Since the last update Cambodia have reported 3 more human infections with HPAI H5N1 bird flu.
Case 5 is an adult female with no known contact with infected birds.
Case 6 is an adult male who had contact with sick chickens, he has sadly died.
Case 7 is an adult female who tended to, and ate, sick chickens. In the latest update she was critically ill.
Cambodia is poor and cannot randomly test, and only people who are very ill are likely to seek medical care, however case 5 is the only known infected person this year to have survived.
Tamiflu is given to contacts as a precaution, but no human to human spread has been detected.
Cambodia reported 37 human deaths from avian flu between 2003 and 2014, then had a period of calm before losing 4 people in 2023 and 2 in 2024. They have lost 5 people already in 2025, this is not good. Around half of the children and teenagers known to be infected have died.
With the announcement of all the recent human bird flu cases in Cambodia, Thailand has strengthened monitoring at the border, and has begun a concerted health campaign to warn the public of the dangers from potentially infected birds.
H3N3 avian flu emerged in China in 2022, and is a reassortment of other flu types. Chinese researchers have been keeping an eye on it and the most recent risk assessment paper (as flagged up by AFluDiary) found that it was fast evolving, very much capable of spreading through poultry, and now in lab tests it looks to be even more efficient at spreading to and through mammals, including humans.
As yet this is not taking off or causing a big problem, but it is one to 'keep on the radar', and thankfully Chinese scientists are doing that on our behalf.
A person from Barnsley in the UK has sadly died after becoming infected with rabies, following a small scratch from a puppy in Morocco.
Rabies is not found in the UK, although some UK bats carry a rabies-like virus, and worldwide no case of human to human transmission is ever known to have occurred except via transplant. It is incredibly rare for anyone from the UK to catch rabies while travelling - this is only the 7th case in 25 years.
Once rabies symptoms occur it's almost always fatal, so it's sensible to avoid contact with animals abroad and also UK bats. If you do feel you've been put at risk, seek medical attention immediately, because swift post-exposure treatment in the form of rabies vaccinations is incredibly effective at preventing the disease.
More scientists in China, and these are raising concerns about the results of a 4 year bat study. They discovered 22 viruses, 20 of which were previously unknown, including 2 henipaviruses. These are from the same family as Nipah and Hendra, very serious viruses which can infect and kill humans.
These viruses exist and will have existed for a long time - the only difference now is that we know about them, so in my book this is not entirely a bad discovery. Being forewarned is almost always a good thing.
The Guardian have a great article about dentists who qualified abroad. Just as an example they spoke to one gentleman who told them: “Despite holding a postgraduate masters degree in dental implantology and being a fully qualified Egyptian dentist, I am currently working at McDonald’s.”
To be able to work as a dentist in the UK he needs to pass both parts of an exam which is held twice a year for 600 people. 6,000 dentists are currently waiting to take the exam, and we have a shortage of 2,749 NHS dentists, with 4.5m people in England alone unable to access one. Where I am now in South West Scotland almost everyone has to travel 2 hours or more for dental care. Our oral health is far more important than this, it affects our whole body, including our hearts, lungs and brain. It deserves higher priority.
It is the weekend, and in Scotland we're less than a week away from our school Summer holidays. Heat is expected, so please take care of those who are more vulnerable, wear sunscreen and a hat, and watch out for heatstroke.
I'm going to be spending time over the next few weeks seeing most of our big kids, and I'm even going on a holiday to a whole different country for the first time in 8 years (only the 3rd time in 14 years!). The universities are also winding down for Summer, and it tends to be fairly quiet, so I'm going to take my longest break ever and have almost a month off from writing. Please don't forget me, I will definitely be back, and hopefully there will not be masses to tell you. Do NOT forget to treat yourself, I'll certainly be treating myself. Living is not about worrying and being negative, it's about having fun and escape from the day to day grind. We all need things to look forward to, to mark the time, to create memories and give us joy. Look after your head at least as well as you look after your body.
I shall be back on Friday 25th July.... Until then...
Drink Plenty Of Water, Smile Often, Save The NHS...
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Sources COVID
https://coronavirus.data.gov.uk/
Reference pages H5N1
https://www.paho.org/en/topics/avian-influenza
https://www.cdc.gov/bird-flu/situation-summary/index.html
Infectious disease tracker
Image sources
Hpv vaccines also prevent penile cancer image UK HSA
Going to a festival - get your MMR - UK HSA image
UK rabies death image
Hot weather UK Gov image
Heat advice UK Gov image
UK HSA HPV vaccination image
Population of England image
UK HSA check health advice before you travel
Heat health UK HSA
Sources
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Nimbus symptoms
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SAGO report inconclusive
UK accept COVID jab recommendations Autumn 2025
Lencapavir HIV preventative
https://x.com/DrTedros/status/1935688717525553641?t=3JbD0oCLzCbm_TVx67ebug&s=09
Testing 1
Testing 2
US hospitalisation trends manager resigns
Fiona Havers resigns
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Long-term neurological and cognitive impact
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ACIP Meeting Thimerosal
ACIP discuss Thimerosal
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Meet the Anti-Vax ACIP First Round Draft Picks of 2025!
RFK Jr Vaccine policy
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Lyn new job at vaccine safety panel
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Bogus study removed from ACIP slides
https://x.com/KrutikaKuppalli/status/1937731024357581059?t=G0gb0jrypzV13IfJpUpBKg&s=19
First new panel ACIP meeting
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https://x.com/HelenBranswell/status/1938355650011988386?t=lwpG4c0ANfpB_LB1xCUWEQ&s=19
https://x.com/HelenBranswell/status/1938331116189991261?t=s0sDiatTs_-8_4-FFLZG8g&s=09
UK Thimerosal 2005
Australian 2000
EU 2005
MEASLES
Bolivia measles
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https://www.cdc.gov/measles/data-research/index.html
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Hepatitis outbreak
ECDC Hepatitis
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RFK Jr pulls GAVI funding
H5N1
Avian flu Europe
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Avian influenza vaccination plan due July
Iowa H5N1 AvianFlu county fairs
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Cambodia 6th case, 5th death H5N1
https://x.com/FluTrackers/status/1936989509150982437?t=9QbcoQwZApsStncAy9myZg&s=09
June 21 (Xinhua) -- A 52-year-old man from southeastern Cambodia's Svay Rieng province had died of H5N1 human avian influenza
Avian flu history WHO
14 June week1
5th case - woman no known contact
5th Avian flu patient in Cambodia
Thailand respond to Cambodia bird flu
H3N3
H3N3 risk assessment
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Overseas-trained dentists working in McDonald’s as millions lack NHS care | Dentists | The Guardian https://www.theguardian.com/society/2025/jun/18/dentists-fast-food-nhs-care-lack
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