The U.S. Army's new vaccine offers ‘broad protection’ against current and future COVID variants

Rsearchers at Walter Reed Emerging Infectious Diseases Branch develop a new COVID-19 vaccine.
The number of average weekly COVID-19 cases in the U.S. has more than doubled since November 28 due to the spread of the new omicron variant. The increase has many worried that it’ll be another deadly winter in the U.S., especially for the unvaccinated.
President Biden had a dire warning for the unvaccinated this week saying they face a winter of "severe illness and death."
As our exhausted populace prepares to fight through another tough winter, there is good news on the horizon, courtesy of the U.S. Army. Recently published preclinical study results show that a new vaccine, known as the Spike Ferritin Nanoparticle (SpFN) COVID-19 developed by researchers at the Walter Reed Army Institute of Research, provides “a potent immune response” and “broad protection” against COVID-19 variants and other coronaviruses.
The vaccine was developed as part of a strategy to address the current variants as well as those that could emerge in the future.
via U.S. Army
“The accelerating emergence of human coronaviruses throughout the past two decades and the rise of SARS-CoV-2 variants, including most recently Omicron, underscore the continued need for next-generation preemptive vaccines that confer broad protection against coronavirus diseases,” Dr. Kayvon Modjarrad, Director of the Emerging Infectious Diseases Branch at WRAIR and co-inventor of the vaccine, told the U.S. Army. “Our strategy has been to develop a ‘pan-coronavirus’ vaccine technology that could potentially offer safe, effective and durable protection against multiple coronavirus strains and species.”
If the vaccine is approved by the FDA, it could act as a one-size-fits-all shot against current and future variants.
The new vaccine will have to undergo Phase 2 and Phase 3 trials before it is approved for public use. The next step for researchers is to see how the new pan-coronavirus vaccine works on those who haven’t been vaccinated nor previously infected with COVID-19.
“We need to evaluate it in the real-world setting and try to understand how does the vaccine perform in much larger numbers of individuals who have already been vaccinated with something else initially…or already been sick,” Modjarrad said.
“It's very exciting to get to this point for our entire team and I think for the entire Army as well,” Modjarrad told Defense One.
The U.S. has authorized the first pill against COVID-19, a Pfizer drug that Americans can take at home to reduce the risk of hospitalization and death. The announcement comes as the U.S. braces for a wave of new infections from the omicron variant.https://apne.ws/HaWNR5e— The Associated Press (@The Associated Press) 1640194429
News of the Army’s new vaccine comes as the FDA announced on Wednesday that it has approved a new anti-COVID pill by Pfizer. In clinical trials the Paxlovid treatment "reduced risk of hospitalization or death by 89% (within three days of symptom onset) and 88% (within five days of symptom onset) compared to placebo; no deaths compared to placebo in non-hospitalized, high-risk adults with COVID-19."
The Biden administration has paid Pfizer $5 billion for 10 million courses of the Paxlovid treatment and 65,000 courses of the treatment are expected to be delivered next week. According to The New York Times, Pfizer will be able to supply 200,000 courses of the treatment in January and 150,000 more in February.
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There's a reason why some people can perfectly copy accents, and others can't
Turns out, there's a neurodivergent link.
A woman in black long sleeve shirt stands in front of mirror.
Have you ever had that friend who goes on vacation for four days to London and comes back with a full-on Queen's English posh accent? "Oooh I left my brolly in the loo," they say, and you respond, "But you're from Colorado!" Well, there are reasons they (and many of us) do that, and usually it's on a pretty subconscious level.
It's called "accent mirroring," and it's actually quite common with people who are neurodivergent, particularly those with ADHD (Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder). According Neurolaunch, the self-described "Free Mental Health Library," "Accent mirroring, also known as accent adaptation or phonetic convergence, is the tendency to unconsciously adopt the accent or speech patterns of those around us. This linguistic chameleon effect is not unique to individuals with ADHD, but it appears to be more pronounced and frequent in this population."
Essentially, when people have conversations, we're constantly "scanning" for information—not just the words we're absorbing, but the inflection and tone. "When we hear an accent, our brains automatically analyze and categorize the phonetic features, prosody, and intonation patterns," writes Neurolaunch. For most, this does result in copying the accent of the person with whom we're speaking. But those with ADHD might be more sensitive to auditory cues. This, "coupled with a reduced ability to filter out or inhibit the impulse to mimic…could potentially explain the increased tendency for accent mirroring."
While the article explains further research is needed, they distinctly state that, "Accent mirroring in individuals with ADHD often manifests as an unconscious mimicry of accents in social situations. This can range from subtle shifts in pronunciation to more noticeable changes in intonation and speech rhythm. For example, a person with ADHD might find themselves unconsciously adopting a Southern drawl when conversing with someone from Texas, even if they’ve never lived in the South themselves."
People are having their say online. On the subreddit r/ADHDWomen, a thread began: "Taking on accents is an ADHD thing?" The OP shares, "My whole life, I've picked up accents. I, myself, never noticed, but everyone around me would be like, 'Why are you talking like that??' It could be after I watched a show or movie with an accent or after I've traveled somewhere with a different accent than my 'normal.'
They continue, "Apparently, I pick it up fast, but it fades out slowly. Today... I'm scrolling Instagram, I watch a reel from a comedian couple (Darcy and Jeremy. IYKYK) about how Darcy (ADHD) picks up accents everywhere they go. It's called ADHD Mirroring??? And it's another way of masking."
(The OP is referring to Darcy Michaels and his husband Jeremy Baer, who are both touring comedians based in Canada.)
Hundreds of people on the Reddit thread alone seem to relate. One comments, "Omfg I've done this my whole life; I'll even pick up on the pauses/spaces when I'm talking to someone who is ESL—but English is my first language lol."
Sometimes, it can be a real issue for those around the chameleon. "I accidentally mimicked a waitress's weird laugh one time. As soon as she was out of earshot, my family started to reprimand me, but I was already like 'oh my god I don’t know why I did that, I feel so bad.'"
Many commenters on TikTok were shocked to find out this can be a sign of ADHD. One jokes, "Omg, yes, at a store the cashier was talking to me and she was French. She's like 'Oh are you French too? No, I'm not lol. I'm very east coast Canada."
And some people just embrace it and make it work for them. "I mirror their words or phrase! I’m 30. I realized I start calling everyone sweetie cause my manager does & I work at coffee shop."
This article originally appeared in May.