Pfizer Plan for COVID Booster Shot Raises Safety Concerns

Opinion | On July 8, 2021, Pfizer, Inc. announced it was developing a booster dose for its experimental messenger RNA (mRNA) BNT162b2 biologic for COVID-19. It said that it had observed waning immunity among people who received the standard two-dose regimen of the product. The company said it planned to begin clinical studies of the […]
Pfizer Poised to Dominate U.S. Market for COVID-19 Biologics

Last week was a bad one for COVID-19 biologics produced by Moderna, Inc. and Johnson & Johnson, Inc. (J&J). News reports began filtering out about new research from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), which were published on Apr. 5, 2021 in the journal JAMA and revealed that people who receive Moderna’s […]
Physical Therapist Dies Two Days After Getting COVID-19 Shot in Indiana

A healthy 28-year-old woman in Indiana died unexpectedly at her home on Jan. 21, 2021 two days after receiving an experimental mRNA (messenger ribonucleic acid) biologic for COVID-19. The deceased, Haley Link Brinkmeyer, PhD worked as a physical therapist at the North River Health Campus senior living community in Evansville.1 2 3 “My 28 year […]
J&J to Test COVID-19 Vaccine on Babies, Pregnant Women and the Immunocompromised

Pharmaceutical and medical device giant Johnson & Johnson, Inc. (J&J) announced on Feb. 28, 2021 plans to test its experimental Ad26.COV2.S vaccine for COVID-19 on infant children (including newborns), pregnant women and people with compromised immune systems. J&J did not include infants, pregnant women or the immunocompromised in the U.S. population in clinical trials on […]
Johnson & Johnson Pauses Phase 3 COVID-19 Vaccine Trial Following ‘Unexplained Illness’

Story Highlights Weeks after Johnson & Johnson announced that their experimental COVID-19 vaccine was in final, Phase 3 testing, the company has paused the study to evaluate an unexplained illness in a study participant. AstraZeneca’s late-stage vaccine trial is also still on pause in the U.S. after two cases of a neurological illness arose in […]
20 Volunteers Suffer Serious Reactions to Johnson & Johnson’s COVID-19 Vaccine

On Sept. 23, 2020, U.S. pharmaceutical and medical devices company Johnson & Johnson, Inc. announced the start of the Phase 3 human clinical trial for its experimental Ad26.COV2.S vaccine for COVID-19. The New Jersey-based company, which is partnering with its subsidiary Janssen Pharmaceutica NV of Belgium on development of the vaccine, is planning to enroll […]