A new study from researchers at the University of British Columbia reveals many parents are willing to accept less rigorous testing and expedited approval of a COVID-19 vaccine. The international study, recently published in Clinical Therapeutics, surveyed more than 2,500 families from Canada, Israel, Japan, Spain, Switzerland and the United…
INOVIO Reports FDA Partial Clinical Hold for Planned Phase 2 / 3 Trial of COVID-19 Vaccine Candidate INO-4800
PLYMOUTH MEETING, Pa., Sept. 28, 2020 /PRNewswire/ — INOVIO (NASDAQ:INO), a biotechnology company focused on bringing to market precisely designed DNA medicines to treat and protect people from infectious diseases and cancer, announced that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has notified the company it has additional questions about…
Mexico joins WHO coronavirus vaccine plan
Mexico, which has one of the world’s highest COVID-19 death tolls, announced Friday that it was joining a WHO-backed program to facilitate poor countries’ access to coronavirus vaccines. The mechanism, known as Covax, aims to secure two billion doses of safe and effective vaccines by the end of 2021 and…
Rich nations snap up vaccine stocks in global race for jab
Rich nations representing a fraction of the global population have already bought up over half the promised Covid-19 vaccine stocks, a study showed, as US President Donald Trump pledged to begin inoculating Americans within weeks. Big pharma is racing to produce an effective jab to counter a virus that has…
Why AstraZeneca and others racing to make a COVID-19 vaccine should be more open about the process
AstraZeneca is resuming clinical trials for the COVID-19 vaccine, ChAdOx1 nCoV-19, following confirmation that is safe to do so. The trials were paused when one of the participants developed an “unexplained illness.” The pause is over, but the concerns that it raises about transparency are not. When AstraZeneca announced the…
UK reserves up to 190 mn vaccine doses from Valneva
Britain has secured access to up to 190 million doses of a potential coronavirus vaccine from Valneva in deal worth as much as 1.37 billion euros, the French-Austrian vaccine firm said Monday. It had already been disclosed in July that the British government had reserved 60 million doses of Valneva’s…
For an effective COVID vaccine, look beyond antibodies to T-cells
More than 100 companies have rushed into vaccine development against COVID-19 as the U.S. government pushes for a vaccine rollout at “warp speed”—possibly by the end of the year—but the bar set for an effective, long-lasting vaccine is far too low and may prove dangerous, according to Marc Hellerstein of…
Could your mask be a kind of vaccine against COVID-19?
(HealthDay)—The world is still waiting for a safe, effective coronavirus vaccine. But new research now suggests that billions of people may already be using a crude vaccine of sorts: face masks. The theory—and it remains largely a theory—is that by filtering out airborne coronavirus droplets and thereby lowering the dose…
A vaccine before the US election? Depends on science—or politics
A COVID-19 vaccine by election day in the US? Experts worry that, facing an uphill battle for reelection, President Donald Trump could press for one to be approved before the November 3 vote, but also before tests prove it is effective and safe for the public. – Where does vaccine…
UK secures 90 mn more doses of potential virus vaccine
Britain has secured access to 90 million doses of two “promising” coronavirus vaccines, the government said Friday, taking its total orders of potential COVID-19 vaccines to nearly 350 million doses. The country has struck agreements to buy 60 million doses from US biotech firm Novavax, and another 30 million doses…
Iron deficiency during infancy reduces vaccine efficacy
About 40 percent of children around the globe suffer from anemia because they do not consume enough iron. Now, studies by ETH researchers show that iron deficiency also reduces the protection provided by vaccinations. Despite the fact that global immunization programs are now reaching more people than ever, about 1.5…