Tag Archives: COVID Vaccine

Reuters reports: Moderna said on Wednesday its experimental COVID-19 vaccine induced immune responses in older adults similar to those in younger participants, offering hope that it will be effective in people considered to be at high risk for severe complications from the coronavirus. The analysis looked at subjects given the 100-microgram dose being tested in the much larger Phase III …

The New York Times reports: Trump administration officials met with congressional leaders last month and told them they would probably give emergency approval to a coronavirus vaccine before the end of Phase 3 clinical trials in the United States, perhaps as early as late September, according to two people briefed on the discussion. The move would be highly unusual and …

The Independent reports: Vice President Mike Pence has responded to Joe Biden‘s acceptance speech criticism of the handling of the coronavirus pandemic, saying he believes there is “a miracle around the corner.” In an interview on CNN on Friday, Pence was asked how many Americans would lose their lives due to the pandemic by the end of the year. “As …

The Christian Post reports: A coalition of more than 2,700 high-profile evangelicals spanning the fields of science and religion have signed onto a statement billed “A Christian Statement on Science for Pandemic Times,” which warns against the politicization of the new coronavirus and urges Christians to take appropriate action against it, including taking a vaccine when it’s ready. BioLogos was …

The Associated Press reports: Pope Francis on Wednesday warned against any prospect that rich people would get priority for a coronavirus vaccine. “The pandemic is a crisis. You don’t come out of it the same — either better or worse,″ Francis said, adding improvised remarks to his planned speech for his weekly public audience. “We must come out better” from …

Courthouse News reports: The World Health Organization warned against “vaccine nationalism” on Tuesday at a moment when the race to vaccinate world populations against the novel coronavirus is entering a new combative phase after China joined Russia in declaring it has developed a vaccine against the virus. The dual announcements by Russia and China, adversaries to the U.S. and its …

NPR reports: Democrat Joe Biden’s lead has expanded to double-digits against President Trump in the presidential election, an NPR/PBS NewsHour/Marist poll finds. Biden now leads Trump 53% to 42%, up from an 8-point advantage at the end of June. It comes as 71% of Americans now see the coronavirus as a real threat, up significantly over the last several months, …

The Washington Post reports: The Russian government’s recent claims of a medical breakthrough with the “Sputnik V” coronavirus vaccine are churning intrigue around the world — and skepticism from several U.S. health experts. “I wouldn’t take it, certainly not outside a clinical trial right now,” former FDA commissioner Scott Gottlieb said Tuesday during an appearance on CNBC’s “Squawk Box.” Gottlieb …

ABC News reports: Russia on Tuesday became the first country to clear a coronavirus vaccine and declare it ready for use, despite international skepticism. President Vladimir Putin said that one of his daughters has already been inoculated. Putin emphasized that the vaccine underwent the necessary tests and has proven efficient, offering a lasting immunity from the coronavirus. However, scientists at …

Roll Call reports: After months of remaining vague about its plans to distribute a COVID-19 vaccine, the Trump administration is quietly piloting distribution working groups, CQ Roll Call has learned. The plan, which is not yet public, was confirmed by four state health departments. Federal officials from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the Pentagon and the administration’s Operation …

The Wall Street Journal reports: A coronavirus vaccine will be available to poorer countries for less than $3 a dose under a new partnership between the Gates Foundation and the Serum Institute of India, the world’s largest vaccine maker. The collaboration is meant to ensure up to 100 million doses of a COVID-19 vaccine will be available for distribution quickly …

Just in from Gallup Polling: With more indications that a vaccine could be close, the next question for health professionals, policymakers and political leaders will be Americans’ willingness to be vaccinated once a vaccine is ready. But many Americans appear reluctant to be vaccinated, even if a vaccine were FDA-approved and available to them at no cost. Asked if they …

The Wall Street Journal reports: Initial supplies of any successful coronavirus vaccines are now expected to fall short of what is needed even for high-priority groups like health-care workers, forcing drugmakers and U.S. officials to grapple with the thorny question of who should be first in line. Public-health officials estimate more than 100 million Americans, including doctors and nurses, other …

The Independent reports: Donald Trump has suggested a coronavirus vaccine could possibly be ready for market before the presidential election in November — even as his own White House and leading health experts said that’s a very unlikely scenario. The president was asked on Thursday whether he believed a vaccine would be ready before Election Day during an interview with …

Reuters reports: Johnson & Johnson on Thursday kicked off U.S. human safety trials for its COVID-19 vaccine after releasing details of a study in monkeys that showed its best-performing vaccine candidate offered strong protection in a single dose. When exposed to the virus, six out of six animals who got the vaccine candidate were completely protected from lung disease and …

CNN reports: A Covid-19 vaccine likely won’t be “widely available” in the US until “several months” into next year, Dr. Anthony Fauci, the director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, said Friday. “I think as we get into 2021, several months in, that you would have [a] vaccine that would be widely available to people in the …

Exactly as it happened in Contagion: When a coronavirus vaccine becomes available, who should get it first? One solution that is starting to attract the attention of public health experts is a so-called weighted lottery, which gives everyone a chance at access, although some get a better shot than others. Doctors and ethicists rank patients, deciding which groups should be …

Reuters reports: The U.S. government has set a benchmark for COVID-19 vaccine pricing in a $2 billion deal announced on Wednesday with Pfizer and German biotech BioNTech that will likely pressure other manufacturers to set similar prices, industry analysts told Reuters. The deal, which is contingent on an approvable product, secures enough vaccine to inoculate 50 million Americans for about …

The Washington Post reports: Biotechnical companies Pfizer and BioNTech announced an agreement with the U.S. government Wednesday morning to distribute up to 600 million doses of a jointly produced vaccine for the novel coronavirus starting in December, through 2021. Through the deal, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services and the Defense Department will pay $1.95 billion for the …

NBC News reports: A coronavirus vaccine being developed by the University of Oxford and AstraZeneca is safe and shows signs of inducing an immune response, according to early clinical trial results published Monday in the medical journal The Lancet. The trial did not look at whether the vaccine prevents coronavirus infection, however. That’s a question that will be answered in …