Epworth Knowledge Services

Vaccine Updates

• Australia has entered into 5 separate agreements for the supply of COVID-19 vaccines, if they are proved to be safe and effective.  
• The National Health Department has developed a COVID-19 Vaccine and Treatment Strategy.
• To safeguard the medical materials supply chain during COVID-19 and future emergencies, rather than a stockpile, this paper recommends developing "a network of repositories, fluid inventories, and analytic monitoring governed by the experts".
• See the CDC vaccine updates
• The US National Institutes of Health have interim results from trials of NIH-Moderna COVID-19 Vaccine.
• the Australian Government has provided information about the Pfizer/Biontech vaccine for COVID-19
• A review of the progress and challenges of developing a vaccine for COVID-19

Recovery and Rehabilitation Updates

• Emerging aspects of the clinical presentation associated with COVID-19 are persistent, long-term effects, frequently referred to as ‘Long COVID’ or even ‘long haulers'.
• The term Chronic COVID Syndrome (CCS) is recommended as the medical terminology to describe the now well-recognised chronicity seen in COVID-19.
• In the UK, key evidence groups NICE, SIGN and RCGP are jointly developing a guideline on persistent effects of Long COVID to help health services align and ensure patients at risk, receive consistent care.
• Rehabilitation and COVID-19: a rapid living systematic review 2020 by Cochrane Rehabilitation Field. Update as of September 30th, 2020.  This rapid living systematic review synthesizes the COVID-19 and rehabilitation literature - providing monthly updates. New cohort studies investigating what impairments may result from COVID-19 infection in the medium term will help in determining how to target healthcare resources.  
• Evidence relevant to clinical rehabilitation (Cochrane Special Collection).  
• The Stanford Hall consensus statement for post-COVID-19 rehabilitation
• Systematic Review of Changes and Recovery in Physical Function and Fitness After Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome–Related Coronavirus Infection: Implications for COVID-19 Rehabilitation.