Tag Archives: vaccine

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 Hill reports: In a Fourth of July address in Washington, D.C., on Saturday, Trump said that the U.S. was unleashing its “scientific brilliance” toward developing treatments for COVID-19, the disease caused by the novel coronavirus. “And we’ll likely have a therapeutic and/or vaccine solution long before the end of the year,” Trump said. “I can’t predict when a vaccine …

STAT News reports: An experimental Covid-19 vaccine being developed by the drug giant Pfizer and the biotech firm BioNTech spurred immune responses in healthy patients, but also caused fever and other side effects, especially at higher doses. The first clinical data on the vaccine were disclosed Wednesday in a paper released on medRXiv, a preprint server, meaning it has not …

Axios reports: The National Institutes of Health may own intellectual property that undergirds a leading coronavirus vaccine being developed by Moderna, according to documents obtained by Axios and an analysis from Public Citizen. Because the federal government has an actual stake in this vaccine, it could try to make the vaccine a free or low-cost public good with wide distribution, …

“Any time you develop a vaccine, you always remember, you always have a question that you may not get an effective vaccine. Even if you do everything right and you do everything on time, there’s no guarantee you’re going to have an effective vaccine. “So when we talk about having a vaccine that might be available in December or January, …

NBC News reports: An experimental vaccine for COVID-19 under development at Oxford University hit a milestone Friday with researchers announcing it will be progressing to advanced stages of human trials. It will be tested in 10,260 volunteers across the United Kingdom to determine how effective it is at preventing infection, the university said in a statement. If successful, it could …

The Hill reports: The former drug company executive leading the Trump administration’s coronavirus vaccine initiative said he will divest all his shares in Moderna, one of the initiative’s leading candidates. At the time of his appointment to lead “Operation Warp Speed,” the shares were worth about $10 million. The announcement comes as Moderna’s stock soared almost 20 percent on Monday, …

CNBC reports: Moderna’s closely watched early-stage human trial for a coronavirus vaccine produced Covid-19 antibodies in all 45 participants, the biotech company announced Monday. Each participant was assigned to receive a 25 microgram, 100 mcg or 250 mcg dose at both vaccinations, with 15 people in each dose group. Study participants received two doses of the potential vaccine via intramuscular …

The Hill reports: President Trump told reporters at the White House Friday that his administration is “looking at” making coronavirus vaccines free to the public. “We’re looking at that actually,” Trump told reporters before departing for Camp David when asked if he thought vaccines should be free. He did not offer his personal opinion on the matter. The Trump administration …

USA Today reports: Former immunologist at the Department of Health and Human Services Rick Bright expressed concern that the nation is rushing too quickly on a vaccine for coronavirus, risking a vaccine being used before a full assessment is made of its efficacy. He called the hope that a vaccine could be available in 12 to 18 months an “aggressive …

The Associated Press reports: French pharmaceutical group Sanofi promised Thursday that it would make its COVID-19 vaccine, when ready, available in all countries, hours after the company’s CEO said the United States will get first access. Sanofi CEO Paul Hudson’s comments that a vaccine would go first to the U.S. prompted an angry reaction from the French government. “Equal access …

Politico reports: The former head of GlaxoSmithKline’s vaccine division will serve as the Trump administration’s “therapeutics czar,” working to speed the development of potential coronavirus vaccines, three individuals with knowledge of the selection told POLITICO. Moncef Slaoui, who left the drugmaker in 2017 and has worked as a venture capitalist, will help coordinate the development of Covid-19 vaccines and treatments …

NBC News reports: Health care giant Johnson and Johnson is looking to produce a billion coronavirus vaccines next year, according to the company’s chief scientific officer. Dr. Paul Stoffels said the company is upscaling manufacturing and will start producing the vaccine later this year. “We are preparing clinical trials. We are fully underway and upscaling. We start clinical trials in …

Yahoo News reports: While the survey shows broad, continuing support for lockdown orders and skepticism about whether the time has come to lift them, a surprisingly large number of Americans seem reluctant to take the one step scientists say could actually bring the devastating coronavirus pandemic to an end. Asked whether they plan to get vaccinated against COVID-19 if and …

NBC News reports: British scientists developing a potential vaccine for the coronavirus hope to see a “signal” as to whether their vaccine candidate is working by June, one official involved in the effort told “Meet the Press” Sunday. Sir John Bell, the Regius Professor of Medicine at Oxford University, where one of the leading efforts to develop a vaccine is …

The New York Post reports: The pharmaceutical giant Pfizer said Tuesday that a new coronavirus vaccine could be tested as early as next week — with the potential for emergency use by fall, a report said Tuesday. “This is a crisis right now, and a solution is desperately needed by all,” Pfizer Chief Executive Albert Bourla told the Wall Street …

The Hill reports: Former Food and Drug Administration (FDA) Commissioner Scott Gottlieb said Sunday that the ouster of federal vaccine chief Richard Bright will “set us back” in combating the coronavirus pandemic. “I know Rick Bright well … he was effective. He was a vaccine expert, so I was sorry to see him go,” Gottlieb said on CBS’ “Face the …

USA Today reports: Nearly one-third of Americans believe a vaccine already exists to prevent coronavirus infection but is being withheld from the public, while nearly half believe the COVID-19 virus was created in a lab. Twenty-nine percent said it’s either probably or definitely true that a vaccine that prevents coronavirus infection exists and is being withheld, according to the Democracy …

CBS Pittsburgh reports: The University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine is unveiling a possible vaccine for the Coronavirus pandemic that has spread across the world. Doctors unveiled the vaccine at a news conference this morning. According to Pitt researchers, it is “delivered through a fingertip-sized patch of microscopic needles.” They say, it “produces antibodies specific to SARS-CoV-2 at quantities thought …