Updates
AstraZeneca COVID-19 Vaccine Trial Data Questioned By Safety Board-NPR
A safety board overseeing AstraZeneca's COVID-19 vaccine trial is raising concerns about the company's data. In an unusual post-midnight statement, the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases said the Data and Safety Monitoring Board, which monitors the trial, is concerned that "outdated information" may have been included in the trial results. NPR, … Continue Reading
March 22, 2021
Are mRNA Covid Vaccines Risky? Here’s What The Experts Say-Bloomberg
When it became clear in early 2020 that the Sars-CoV-2 virus posed a pandemic threat, researchers who’d been exploring an innovative way to make vaccines saw an opportunity. Experimental messenger RNA vaccines had been recognized for years for their potential speed and flexibility in a fast-moving epidemic, and were some of the first Covid inoculations to move into human trials. The effort paid off when, late last year, vaccines from Moderna Inc. and the Pfizer Inc./BioNTech SE partnership … Continue Reading
March 22, 2021
US Must Step Up On Global COVID-19 Vaccination Efforts, Experts Say-Devex
The United States needs to step up its efforts to address global COVID-19 vaccination efforts by improving manufacturing and detailing donation plans for surplus doses, according to health and foreign policy experts. While other countries, including China and Russia, have been donating vaccines internationally before fully vaccinating their own populations, the U.S. and other wealthy democracies have prioritized their own domestic efforts. Devex, … Continue Reading
March 22, 2021
A Rapid COVID-19 Vaccine Rollout Backfired In Some US States-The Associated Press
Despite the clamor to speed up the U.S. vaccination drive against COVID-19 and get the country back to normal, the first three months of the rollout suggest faster is not necessarily better. A surprising new analysis found that states such as South Carolina and Florida that raced ahead of others to offer the vaccine to ever-larger groups of people have vaccinated smaller shares of their population than those that moved more slowly and methodically, such as Hawaii and Connecticut. The … Continue Reading
March 22, 2021
A Year On From Lockdown, India Reports Worst Day For COVID-19 In Months-Reuters
India reported its most COVID-19 cases and deaths in months on Monday, on the first anniversary of the start of a chaotic nationwide lockdown that left many people jobless and shrank the economy. Authorities reintroduced some curbs to slow the spread of the virus, especially in the western state of Maharashtra, which accounted for nearly two-thirds of the 46,951 new infections and the majority of the 212 deaths. Reuters, … Continue Reading
March 22, 2021
AstraZeneca Vaccine Can Prevent COVID-19, Phase III Study Says-NPR
Preliminary results from a study examining the efficacy of the Oxford-AstraZeneca coronavirus vaccine indicate it is significantly effective at preventing severe illness from COVID-19. Results of the trial, which involved more than 32,000 volunteers, showed two doses of the vaccine administered four weeks apart had an efficacy of 79% at preventing symptoms of COVID-19. NPR, … Continue Reading
March 18, 2021
Has COVID Peaked? Maybe, But It’s Too Soon To Be Sure-Nature
Has the world hit peak COVID-19? It’s a question scientists are beginning to ask as global case figures tumble and mass vaccination efforts gather speed. But a plethora of new variants that threaten to circumvent vaccines and existing natural immunity mean it’s too soon to be sure, say researchers. Nature, … Continue Reading
March 18, 2021
'There’s Tremendous Fear': Farmworkers Face Vaccine Eligibility Woes-Politico
State officials and advocates are racing to overcome obstacles that hamper vaccinating the nation’s 3 million farmworkers before the upcoming harvest season. The biggest hurdle: Many agriculture-rich states have been slow to make laborers eligible for shots, triggering outrage among activists and lawmakers that farmworkers and other crucial food industry employees have been overlooked throughout the pandemic. Politico, … Continue Reading
March 18, 2021
In Pakistan, COVID-19 Vaccines Go On Sale-Devex
On Wednesday, the first shipment of the privately imported Russian COVID-19 vaccine, or Sputnik V, comprising 50,000 doses, arrived in Pakistan. The vaccines will be available for commercial sale for those who can afford to pay. Pakistan is one of the first countries to allow the private sector to import and sell COVID-19 vaccines. It has also exempted them from price caps, which have raised concerns about access inequality. Experts say this move could lead to disparity under an already … Continue Reading
March 18, 2021
U.S. Extends Travel Restrictions At Canada, Mexico Land Borders-Reuters
U.S. land borders with Canada and Mexico will remain closed to non-essential travel until at least April 21, the U.S. government said on Thursday. The 30-day extension is the second announced under President Joe Biden and comes as U.S lawmakers in northern border states have urged lifting the nearly year-old restrictions to address the COVID-19 pandemic. Reuters, … Continue Reading
March 18, 2021
Lessons From The COVID-19 Crisis: Overcrowding Hospitals Cost Lives-NPR
Health care systems endured a stress test like no other over the past year as COVID-19 patients filled up hospital beds and intensive care units. Health care workers pleaded with the public to "flatten the curve" yet each surge in 2020 was worse than the next. Now two recent studies quantify the consequences of flooding hospitals with COVID-19 patients, and add urgency to continued efforts to keep cases and hospitalizations down. The research, from both the U.S. and the U.K., shows that when … Continue Reading
March 17, 2021
Thai Sniffer Dogs Can Detect COVID-19 In Sweat, Project Shows-Reuters
Thai sniffer dogs trained to detect COVID-19 in human sweat proved nearly 95% accurate during training and could be used to identify coronavirus infections at busy transport hubs within seconds, the head of a pilot project said. Six Labrador Retrievers participated in a six-month project that included unleashing them to test an infected patient’s sweat on a spinning wheel of six canned vessels. “The dogs take only one to two seconds to detect the virus,” Professor Kaywalee Chatdarong, the … Continue Reading
March 17, 2021
COVID Antibody Treatments Show Promise For Preventing Severe Disease-Scientific American
Two clinical trials suggest that specific antibody treatments can prevent deaths and hospitalizations among people with mild or moderate COVID-19—particularly those who are at high risk of developing severe disease. One study found that an antibody against the coronavirus developed by Vir Biotechnology in San Francisco, California, and GSK, headquartered in London, reduced the chances of hospitalization or death among participants by 85%. In another trial, a cocktail of two … Continue Reading
March 17, 2021
Is 'Rampant' Corruption Crippling Malawi's COVID-19 Response?-Devex
Last year, a report by Malawi’s ombudsman investigating how the country’s COVID-19 “Coordination Cluster” utilized its budget of over 320 million Malawian kwacha between March and July 2020 indicated that there had been some maladministration. The report found that 79.8% of the total funding allocated to the cluster was spent on staff allowances or benefits. It highlighted that this spending was “a reflection of misplaced priorities,” and recommended that government allowances be made “more … Continue Reading
March 17, 2021
Driven By The Pandemic And ‘The Fauci Effect,’ Applicants Flood Public Health Schools-STAT
The Covid-19 pandemic has tested the public health and medical workforces like never before. And yet people in those fields say they see emerging signs that the crisis will inspire the next generation of doctors, nurses, and public health professionals to join the ranks. Public health schools, for example, saw a 23% jump in applicants for master’s and doctoral programs from fall 2019 to fall 2020, and are reporting an even bigger increase so far in this application cycle, according to the … Continue Reading
March 17, 2021
Landlords Struggling To Stay Afloat See Lifeline In COVID-19 Relief For Renters-NPR
Nearly 10 million Americans are behind on their rent payments, according to the U.S. Census Bureau. And Stephanie Graves is seeing that play out first hand. She's a landlord in the Houston area and says tenants in most of her buildings are struggling. Graves really wants her tenants to be able to get help. Between the last two COVID-19 relief measures, Congress has approved upwards of $50 billion in rental assistance money. And that is just now starting to become available. Graves is going … Continue Reading
March 16, 2021
First Children Vaccinated In Moderna's Phase 2/3 Pediatric Covid-19 Vaccine Trial, Company Says-CNN
The first children have been vaccinated in Moderna's Phase 2/3 pediatric Covid-19 vaccine trial, the company announced Tuesday in a statement. The clinical trial, called the KidCOVE study, will enroll approximately 6,750 children in the US and Canada between the ages of 6 months and 11 years old. The trial is broken into two parts. In part one, different dosages of the vaccine are being tested on the children. Children between the ages of 6 months and 1 year old will receive two doses of the … Continue Reading
March 16, 2021
China Approves Another COVID-19 Vaccine For Emergency Use-The Associated Press
China has approved a new COVID-19 vaccine for emergency use, one that was developed by the head of its Center for Disease Control, adding a fifth shot to its arsenal. Gao Fu, the head of China’s CDC, led the development of a protein subunit vaccine that was approved by regulators last week for emergency use, the Chinese Academy of Sciences’ Institute of Microbiology said in a statement Monday. The Associated Press, … Continue Reading
March 16, 2021
German COVID-19 Cases Are Growing Exponentially Again-Reuters
Coronavirus infections are rising exponentially in Germany, an expert at the Robert Koch Institute for infectious diseases said on Tuesday, putting at risk plans to lift the lockdown and revive the economy. The number of cases per 100,000 reported on Tuesday was 83.7, up from 68 a week ago, and the RKI has said that metric could reach 200 by the middle of next month. Germany is definitely in a third wave of the pandemic, driven by the fact it has loosened restrictions in recent weeks just as a … Continue Reading
March 16, 2021
Health Commission Debates WHO-FAO Merger After COVID-19-Devex
Merging the United Nations’ health and food security agencies is one idea being discussed by an expert group convened by the World Health Organization to provide policy recommendations in light of the COVID-19 pandemic. The Pan-European Commission on Health and Sustainable Development, chaired by former Italian Prime Minister Mario Monti, launched in August 2020 and will present its final report this September. Devex, … Continue Reading