Children Recruited in U.K. for COVID-19 Vaccine Trial
The University of Oxford’s Jenner Institute and Oxford Vaccine Group in the United Kingdom has announced that its researchers have begun recruiting children aged five to 12 years for phase II and phase III clinical trials testing an experimental COVID-19 vaccine the university is developing in partnership with AstraZeneca plc.1 Oxford’s ChAdOx1 nCov-19 (“chimpanzee adenovirus […]
COVID-19 Vaccine Will Likely Be Given Multiple Times, Perhaps Annually
In an interview with the JAMA on June 2, 2020, Anthony Fauci, MD, director of the U.S. National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) said that while he was “cautiously optimistic” about the effectiveness of the vaccines being developed for COVID-19, he was concerned that any protection the vaccines may provide might only be temporary. […]
CDC Reduces COVID-19 Fatality Rate to 0.26 Percent
In a new document providing guidance for public health officials on COVID-19, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) estimates the infection fatality rate (IFR) for the disease at 0.4 percent, or about half the nearly one percent fatality rate the CDC estimated in March 2020 when it was predicting up to 1.7 […]
New York Nursing Homes in Crisis During COVID-19 Pandemic
On Mar. 25, 2020, New York Governor Andrew Cuomo issued an order requiring nursing homes to accept on an expedited basis all new or returning residents with confirmed or presumed COVID-19 who are discharged from the hospital after being diagnosed as medically stable. The order states: No resident shall be denied re-admission or admission to […]
Fauci Says Rushing COVID-19 Vaccine is Risky
During a remote online testimony before the U.S. Senate’s Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee on May 12, 2020, Anthony Fauci, MD warned that moving forward too quickly with the development of a vaccine for COVID-19 may produce a vaccine that could make the disease worse.1 2 Dr. Fauci, who is the director of the […]
Oxford Begins COVID-19 Vaccine Trials to Meet September Deadline
On Mar. 17, 2020, European Commission (EC) president Ursula von der Leyen said she was hopeful a vaccine for COVID-19 could be available this September. Her view was based on conversations she had had with managers of German biotechnology firm CureVac AG which has developed an experimental messenger RNA (mRNA) vaccine that it plans to […]