Category: Covid-19

New Jersey Prioritizes Smokers for Vaccine

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Smokers in New Jersey are now eligible to receive the Covid-19 vaccine, along with other groups that the state considers to be at risk for severe complications from the virus, reports The New York Times. Those groups include those 65 and older and younger people with underlying health problems, including cancer, heart conditions and diabetes.
The announcement came a day after the Trump administration told states to expand eligibility and to quickly use existing vaccine or risk losing future allocations.
New Jersey’s decision to immediately adopt all of the recommendations by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) for priority vaccination has prompted a backlash because it puts these groups ahead of some essential workers, including teachers.
On Friday, Governor Philip Murphy called criticism that smokers were jumping the line a “cheap shot” and a “false narrative,” noting that the state is hewing closely to CDC guidelines.
The CDC includes smoking on a list of medical conditions that it recommends be prioritized in state vaccination programs because of the higher risk of serious complications from Covid-19. But to date, only one other state, Mississippi, appears to have authorized vaccinations for people younger than 65 based solely on the criterion that they smoke cigarettes.
New Mexico and Texas have made people with other high-risk medical conditions eligible for the vaccine, but not smokers. Alaska, Maine, Massachusetts and North Carolina include smokers, but not until later phases.
As of Friday, New Jersey had administered less than half of the 658,800 doses of vaccine shipped to the state, according to the CDC, a rate that lags behind most other states in the Northeast.
January 18, 2021
South Africa to Appeal Tobacco Ban Ruling

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The government of South Africa will appeal the Dec. 11 court ruling that declared the ban on the trade of tobacco products during the coronavirus lockdown was unnecessary and unconstitutional.
The government stated that the court erred in finding that a different but similar case involving the Fair Trade Independent Tobacco Association (Fita), which was dismissed on grounds that tobacco products were not essential, was not binding to it.
From March to August 2020, the government prohibited sales of tobacco products and alcohol to help stem the spread of the coronavirus. Market leader British American Tobacco South Africa (BATSA) and smaller companies united in the Fita challenged the ban, arguing that a short-term ban on a product whose health risks become evident only in the long run makes no sense.
They also questioned the rationale of the argument around cigarette sharing. Tobacco shortages and high prices of black-market cigarettes would only increase the likelihood of smokers sharing their “stompies,” the tobacco companies said.
The government lifted the ban before the matter had been heard in court, but BATSA decided to proceed with the court action to prevent the ban from being reintroduced at a later stage of the pandemic.
In its ruling, the Western Cape High Court judges who presided over the case said Regulation 45, which the government relied upon for the ban, “cannot and does not withstand constitutional scrutiny.”
The Fita expressed disappointment with the government’s decision to appeal.
“We feel that this step by government is regrettable given the irreparable harm on the tobacco industry along its value chain which was occasioned by the five month-long ban on the sale of cigarettes and tobacco related products for consumption by the local market, and which ban has led to the exponential and unabated growth of the illicit cigarette market, which issue has the knock-on effect of increased losses to the fiscus as less taxes are collected by the receiver,” the Fita wrote in a statement.
“This step by government is further worrisome in that it signals the potential arrival of yet another cigarette sales ban given that the pending appeal will suspend the operation of the Western Cape High Court judgment until the matter is properly ventilated before the courts, which matter could take months if not more to resolve.”
FITA previously came to an agreement with the government stating it be consulted in the case that other cigarette bans are being considered.
January 5, 2021
Anti-Tobacco Activist Joins U.S. Covid Team

Bechara Choucair
(Photo: Kaiser Permanente)
President-Elect Biden has appointed Bechara Choucair as vaccinations coordinator of the White House Covid-19 response team.
Choucair is senior vice president and chief health officer for Kaiser Permanente and a board member of the Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids (CTFK). Previously, he served as Chicago’s public health commissioner.
Choucair will step down from his board position at CTFK as he assumes his new position.
“In appointing Dr. Choucair as vaccinations coordinator, President-Elect Biden has chosen an extraordinarily experienced and capable public health and medical leader,” said Matthew L. Myers, president of the CTFK, in a statement. “We congratulate Dr. Choucair and look forward to working with him in the future.”
December 30, 2020
Funding for Covid-19 Antigen Research

Photo: Tobacco Reporter archive
The European Investment Bank (EIB), the Foundation for Innovative New Diagnostics (FIND) and several South African funders have pumped almost ZAR900 million ($61.4 million) into Cape Bio Pharms to further Covid-19 antigen and antibody research using tobacco plants.
The South African company, which has roots in the University of Cape Town’s Biopharming Research Unit, is investigating plant-based rapid diagnostic Covid-19 test kits to provide an affordable alternative to developing nations, according to a report by Business Insider.
The EIB funding, which accounts for 70 percent of the total project cost, will be used to open a new Covid-19 research facility operated by Cape Biologix Technologies, a subsidiary of Cape Bio Pharms, in Mauritius.
Funding from FIND, which covers a further 7 percent of the project costs, will be used to scale up the pilot production program currently underway in Cape Town.
The Mauritius facility will feature laboratories, processing plants and climate controlled hydroponic grow rooms to provide stable plant-made proteins to combat Covid-19. Cape Bio Pharms’ research has focused extensively on the use of Nicotiana Benthamiana, which contains nicotine and alkaloids similar to those found in the tobacco plants used for making cigarettes.
Indigenous to Australia, Nicotiana benthamiana has impressive biopharming properties. It adjusts well to genetic engineering and reproduces proteins at a superior rate.
Cape Biologix Technologies aims to turn the Nicotiana benthamiana plants into antibody production centers that can later be extracted and applied to use in rapid antigen tests and even vaccines.
Rapid antigen tests detect viral proteins associated with Covid-19 through samples gathered from the respiratory tract. Results can be determined within 30 minutes.
Plant-based vaccines, like the one being studied by Cape Bio Pharms, have the advantage of being stable at room temperature unlike the Pfizer/BioNTech dose which needs to be kept at -70 degrees Celsius.
Around the world, multiple efforts are underway to combat Covid-19 using tobacco plant technology.
Recently, British American Tobacco subsidiary Kentucky BioProcessing announced plans to commence a Phase I first-time-in-human study of its Covid-19 vaccine candidate following approval of its investigational new drug application by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.
In July, Medicago, a Quebec-based biotechnology company backed by Philip Morris International and other investors, also started human trails for a tobacco-based Covid-19 vaccine.
Researchers in Thailand, too, are developing a tobacco-based Covid-19 vaccine.
December 29, 2020
BAT Covid Vaccine Moves to Human Trials

Photo: KBP
Kentucky BioProcessing (KBP) plans to commence a Phase I first-time-in-human study of its Covid-19 vaccine candidate following approval of its investigational new drug application by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA). Enrollment for the study is expected to begin shortly.
The Covid-19 vaccine candidate will become one of a number of potential vaccines to have progressed beyond pre-clinical testing. The study is designed to enroll a total of 180 healthy volunteers who will be divided into two age cohorts, 18 to 49 and 50 to 70. Each group will then be subdivided into low dose and high dose treatment groups and randomized 2:1 to receive either the low dose or placebo, or high dose or placebo. Results from the study are expected mid-2021 and, if positive, would allow for continued progress into a Phase 2 study, subject to regulatory approval.
The candidate vaccine has been developed using KBP’s fast-growing plant-based technology. According to KBP parent company British American Tobacco (BAT), this approach has a number of possible advantages, including the rapid production of the vaccine’s active ingredients in around six weeks compared to several months using conventional methods. The candidate vaccine also has the potential to be stable at room temperature, which could be a significant advantage for healthcare systems and public health networks worldwide. If successful, the speed of production of the active ingredients has the potential to reduce the time between identifying new viruses and strains and vaccine development and deployment to those who need it.
David O’Reilly
“Moving into human trials with both our Covid-19 and seasonal flu vaccine candidates is a significant milestone and reflects our considerable efforts to accelerate the development of our emerging biologicals portfolio,” said David O’Reilly, BAT’s director of scientific research, in a statement. “It is our unique plant-based vaccine technology, which acts as a fast, efficient host for the production of antigens for a variety of diseases, that has enabled us to make this progress and respond to the urgent global need for safe and effective treatments and vaccines.”
Tobacco Reporter’s Stefanie Rossel highlighted KBP’s endeavor in a June 2020 feature story, titled “Shots on Goal.”
In July, Medicago, a Quebec-based biotechnology company backed by Philip Morris International and other investors, also started human trails for a tobacco-based Covid-19 vaccine.
Researchers in Thailand, too, are developing a tobacco-based Covid-19 vaccine.
December 16, 2020
South Africa Tobacco Ban Unconstitutional

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South Africa’s ban on tobacco sales during the country’s hard lockdown earlier this year was unconstitutional, the country’s High Court ruled Dec. 11.
From March to August, the government prohibited sales of tobacco products and alcohol to help stem the spread of the coronavirus. Market leader British American Tobacco South Africa (BATSA) and smaller companies united in the Fair-trade Independent Tobacco Association (FITA) challenged the ban, arguing that a short-term ban on a product whose health risks become evident only in the long run makes no sense.
They also questioned the rationale of the argument around cigarette sharing. Tobacco shortages and high prices of black-market cigarettes would only increase the likelihood of smokers sharing their “stompies,” the tobacco companies said.
The government lifted the ban before the matter had been heard in court, but BATSA decided to proceed with the court action to prevent the ban from being reintroduced at a later stage of the pandemic.
In its ruling Friday, the Western Cape High Court judges who presided over the case said Regulation 45, which Minister Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma relied upon for the ban, “cannot and does not withstand constitutional scrutiny.”
In court, the government had argued that the ban was aimed at reducing the occupation of intensive care unit beds by smokers. If people didn’t smoke, they would likely not get Covid-19 in a more severe form, it argued. But BATSA maintained the government had not justified the ban in law or science.
Tobacco companies expressed satisfaction with Friday’s ruling.
“British American Tobacco South Africa has been vindicated in its view that the disastrous ban on tobacco sales was unjustified and unconstitutional after the Western Cape High Court ruled in its favor,” the company wrote in a press release.
“The five-month ban on tobacco and vapor products sales was ill-considered, unlawful and has worsened the illicit trade in cigarettes and vapor products in the country.”
“We note and welcome the judgment of the full bench of the Western Cape High Court, wrote FITA in a statement.
“The court further found Regulation 45 to be neither necessary nor that it furthered the objectives set out in section 27(2) of the Disaster Management Act. This, of course, was one of the arguments advanced by FITA in its challenging of the ban on the sale of cigarettes and tobacco-related products, which the full bench of the North Gauteng High Court erred in finding same to be necessary.”
In the wake of the court ruling, BATSA also renewed its call for South Africa to urgently ratify the World Health Organization Illicit Trade Protocol to eradicate the illegal sale of cigarettes. The company stated that ratifying the protocol is “the only way for the country to claw back tax losses resulting from the explosion in illicit trade that occurred during the ban on tobacco and vapor products.”
In July, BATSA estimated that the ban on legal cigarette sales had cost South Africa ZAR4 billion ($241.7 million) in lost excise tax revenues and 30,000 lost industry jobs.
December 14, 2020
Study: Vapers Quitting Amid Pandemic

Photo: Sarah J. from Pixabay
E-cigarette use among U.S. teens and young adults decreased dramatically during the Covid-19 pandemic. Nearly two-thirds of e-cigarette users reporting that they’ve either cut back or quit, according to a new study.
About 32 percent of e-cigarette users said they quit this year and another 35 percent reported cutting back, according to survey results published Dec. 3 in JAMA Network Open.
Concerns about lung health were a major factor in their decision, the results indicate. One in four respondents who cut back or quit said they were motivated by concern that vaping could weaken their lungs.
Research has shown that smokers have a higher risk of severe Covid-19 infection, noted senior researcher Bonnie Halpern-Felsher, a developmental psychologist and professor of pediatrics at Stanford University in California.
Vapers’ worries were likely also fanned by the 2019 nationwide outbreak of EVALI, which involved thousands of lung injuries related to e-cigarette use, she added.
December 4, 2020
Covid Pandemic Boosts Cigarette Sales

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Despite public health advice that smoking increases the risk of severe illness from Covid-19, tobacco sales around the world have received a boost during the pandemic, reports Reuters.
In recent weeks, Philip Morris International, Japan Tobacco, Imperial Brands and Altria Group all raised their sales or profit targets, saying the industry had done better than expected, mostly in the United States and Europe. Imperial said staying home in the pandemic gave people more chances to smoke and more cash to spend.
Smokers, meanwhile, cite a combination of anxiety, boredom, stress and the unexpected freedoms of social isolation as reasons for lighting up more.
While overall tobacco sales continue to fall, the speed of decline has slowed in many markets.
For example, in the United States tobacco sales by volume fell 2 percent in the eight months to Oct. 24, according to Nielsen data. That’s smaller than an average drop of just over 3 percent in the previous two years.
Slowing U.S. sales of e-cigarettes also have benefitted conventional smokes. E-cigarettes rose only 2 percent over the period versus about 70 percent on average in the previous two years, a development that is commonly attributed to last year’s Evali crisis and a U.S. government ban on most flavors in pre-filled nicotine cartridges. Conventional cigarette sales in the U.S. also benefited from cheaper gasoline.
British American Tobacco told Reuters its U.S. cigarette performance had been helped by government stimulus payments, which have boosted disposable incomes, as well as working from home and consumers stocking up on necessities.
Tobacco firms also cite reduced international travel, which has boosted domestic sales in some countries, and tighter border controls, which reduced cigarette smuggling.
In some markets, tobacco companies also benefited from exceptions to lockdown orders. France, Italy and Spain deemed tobacconists “essential,” allowing them to remain open even as other business had to close shop. In the United States and Britain, tobacco was on sale in stores that sell other necessities such as groceries.
November 20, 2020
‘Tobacco Industry Exploiting Pandemic’

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The tobacco industry is exploiting the Covid-19 pandemic to hook new users and push new products, according to the Global Tobacco Industry Interference Index (GTIII) 2020.

By providing resources to countries in need of them, the industry is disingenuously framing itself as part of the solution, the GTIII’s authors write. Philip Morris International alone donated more than $32 million across 62 markets in the first few months of the pandemic. The authors say this is a classic tactic of the tobacco industry to get close to governments and enable it to interfere with, derail and undermine health policies aimed at tobacco use.

The report also found that the tobacco industry stepped up corporate social responsibility activities during the Covid-19 pandemic, intensified lobbying and lobbied for the acceptance and promotion of alternative tobacco products.

In addition, many countries continued to give incentives, such as tax caps, to the tobacco industry and failed to address conflict-of-interest situations. Lack of transparency remained a problem, and many countries persisted in viewing the tobacco industry as economically crucial, according to the report.

The authors of the GTIII recommends that governments limit their interactions with the tobacco industry to only when strictly necessary, reject nonbinding agreements with the tobacco industry and denormalize social responsibility activities of the tobacco industry, among other measures.

The GTIII is a global survey on how governments are protecting their public health policies from commercial and vested interests as required under the World Health Organization Framework Convention on Tobacco Control.

The report was initiated as a regional index by the Southeast Asia Tobacco Control Alliance in 2014. The GTIII 2020 was produced by the Global Center for Good Governance in Tobacco Control, with support from Bloomberg Philanthropies, the Thai Health Promotion Foundation and the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.
November 18, 2020
Cyprus Tobacco Sales Spike During Lockdown

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Sales of tobacco and cigarettes in Cyprus skyrocketed between March and April 2020.

According Retail Zoom, the sale of loose tobacco went up by 28 percent during the Covid-19 lockdown while cigarettes sales increased by 12 percent.

The spike could be linked to a government decision to close all checkpoints to the north as a precaution against the coronavirus pandemic.

Many Cypriots regularly travel to the north to illegally buy tobacco and cigarettes at cheaper rates. With access to the north forbidden, many had to revert to buying them legally and at full price.

Cigarette sales totaled €28 million ($33.1 million) at the end of May compared with €23 million at the start of February. Over the same period, the sale of loose tobacco increased from €3 million to €4.5 million.

According to KPMG, illegal sales in 2019 accounted for 14.3 percent of all tobacco sales, the highest rate ever recorded in the country. The black market caused the government to miss out on €28 million in revenues.
November 6, 2020