Tag Archives: COVID Vaccine

The BBC reports: International air travelers will in future need to prove they have been vaccinated against Covid-19 in order to board Qantas flights, the airline says. The Australian flag carrier’s boss, Alan Joyce, said the move would be “a necessity” when vaccines are available. “I think that’s going to be a common thing talking to my colleagues in other …

CNBC reports: British pharmaceutical giant AstraZeneca on Monday said an interim analysis of clinical trials showed its coronavirus vaccine has an average efficacy of 70% in protecting against the virus. It comes after a string of encouraging vaccine results in recent weeks, following late-stage trial readouts from Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna. The AstraZeneca vaccine, developed in collaboration with the University of …

The Los Angeles Times reports: Citing ethical concerns about the use of stem cells in vaccine development, Bishop Joseph Brennan of the Diocese of Fresno is urging Catholics not to “jump on the COVID-19 vaccine bandwagon.” In his message, Brennan said the use of embryonic stem cells at any stage of a vaccine’s development means Catholics cannot avail themselves of …

CNBC reports: Pfizer and BioNTech will apply Friday for an emergency use authorization from the Food and Drug Administration for their coronavirus vaccine. If Pfizer’s application is approved, the vaccine will likely be limited and rolled out in phases, with health-care workers, the elderly and people with underlying health conditions getting the first inoculations. Essential workers, teachers and people in …

Orlando’s NBC News affiliate reports: Each vaccine requires two doses. If approved, the federal government anticipates having enough vaccine for 20 million Americans by the end of December, said DeSantis. DeSantis went on to say that millions of doses are ready to ship. Once the FDA approves the vaccine, they will ship within 24 hours. DeSantis expects Florida hospitals to …

The BBC reports: The Oxford coronavirus vaccine shows a strong immune response in adults in their 60s and 70s, raising hopes that it can protect age groups most at risk from the virus. Researchers say the Lancet phase two findings, based on 560 healthy adult volunteers, are “encouraging”. They are also testing whether the vaccine stops people developing Covid-19 in …

The New York Times reports: The drug maker Pfizer said on Wednesday that its coronavirus vaccine was 95 percent effective and had no serious side effects — the first set of complete results from a late-stage vaccine trial as Covid-19 cases skyrocket around the globe. The data showed that the vaccine prevented mild and severe forms of Covid-19, the company …

STAT News reports: Pfizer may be within days of filing for an emergency use authorization for its Covid-19 vaccine, having collected the safety data necessary to submit an application to the Food and Drug Administration, CEO Albert Bourla said Tuesday. “We are very close to submitting for an emergency use authorization,” Bourla said during the STAT Summit, which this year …

The Guardian reports: It’s truly the greatest gift of all: a $1 million donation by Dolly Parton to coronavirus vaccine research supported the development of the Moderna vaccine, which shows 95% protection from the virus. In April, Parton donated to research after her friend Dr Naji Abumrad of the Vanderbilt Institute for Infection, Immunology and Inflammation at Vanderbilt University in …

Just in from Gallup Polling: Americans’ willingness to be vaccinated against COVID-19 rebounded a bit in October, as seen in Gallup polling conducted before Pfizer/BioNTech and Moderna made promising announcements about the likely effectiveness of their coronavirus vaccines. Fifty-eight percent of Americans in the latest poll say they would get a COVID-19 vaccine, up from a low of 50% in …

Mediaite reports: Operation Warp Speed chief adviser Dr. Moncef Slaoui downplayed President Donald Trump’s involvement in the coronavirus vaccine breakthroughs on MSNBC, Monday claiming that the president “has never been very actively involved.” Slaoui told Andrea Mitchell that “the vaccine is going to help us get back to some level of normalcy,” noting, “The vaccine will really become effective and …

NBC News reports: Dr. Anthony Fauci on Monday stressed that he’s concerned that the Trump administration has not yet greenlighted the formal transition to the incoming Biden administration, which the infectious disease expert said is key to the quick distribution of a Covid-19 vaccine. In an interview on NBC’s “TODAY” show, host Savannah Guthrie asked Fauci whether he’s concerned that …

The New York Times reports: The drugmaker Moderna announced on Monday that its coronavirus vaccine was 94.5 percent effective, based on an early look at the results from its large, continuing study. Researchers said the results were better than they had dared to imagine. But the vaccine will not be widely available for months, probably not until spring. Moderna is …

The New York Daily News reports: Gov. Andrew Cuomo on Sunday fired the latest salvo in his and President Trump’s ongoing COVID-19 vaccine war — threatening to sue the Republican administration if it moves ahead with its COVID-19 vaccine-distribution plan. The governor has blasted Trump’s distribution plan as discriminatory and said he is enlisting his own panel of experts to …

Reuters reports: U.S. states, cities, and hospitals are scrambling to buy ultra-cold freezers that can safely store Pfizer’s COVID-19 vaccine, ignoring advice from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) to hold off. The push reveals a lack of infrastructure to support a super cold vaccine campaign, including equipment to store millions of doses of Pfizer’s vaccine at …

CNBC reports: President Donald Trump said Friday that the U.S. government would not deliver a coronavirus vaccine to New York if and when one is available. New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo “will have to let us know when he’s ready for it because otherwise, we can’t be delivering it to a state that won’t be giving it to its people …

The BBC reports: The European Union has agreed to buy up to 300 million doses of the BioNTech-Pfizer coronavirus vaccine, after it showed strong results in trials. Deliveries are expected to start by the end of this year, the companies said. But the EU refused to provide details on how the vaccine would be rolled out, insisting that “a number …

Agence France-Presse reports: The vaccine developed by US pharmaceutical giant Pfizer and Germany’s BioNTech, on track to be the first authorized for use in the United States, must be stored at -94 degrees Fahrenheit (-70 degrees Celsius), whereas the flu vaccine can be kept in a normal refrigerator. Pfizer vaccines distributed in the US will come from its largest manufacturing …

Business Insider reports: Every American could have access to a COVID-19 vaccine before the end of April, Dr. Anthony Fauci told CNN on Tuesday night. On Monday, Pfizer announced that the vaccine it had developed had succeeded in the final stage of clinical trials, marking a major milestone in the global race for a vaccine. The drugmaker said the vaccine …

The Washington Post reports: In a statement, Joe Biden said his health advisers were informed Sunday night of the news that a vaccine developed by drug giant Pfizer and German biotechnology firm BioNTech was more than 90 percent effective at protecting people compared with a placebo saline shot. “I congratulate the brilliant women and men who helped produce this breakthrough …