Canada Adds Bell’s Palsy Warning to Pfizer COVID Shot
Health Canada, the Canadian government’s department responsible for national health policy, earlier this month updated the product information label for Pfizer/BioNTech’s experimental messenger RNA (mRNA) biologic (also known as BNT162b2 or “Comirnaty” vaccine) to reflect reported cases of Bell’s palsy—an immune mediated neurological disorder characterized by temporary muscle weakness or paralysis on one side of […]
Coronavirus Spreading Among the Vaccinated in Highly Vaccinated Countries
A recent study published by King’s College in London, which operates the ZOE COVID Study app to monitor COVID infection and vaccination rates, found that, as of July 15, 2021, there was an average of 15,537 new daily symptomatic cases of COVID-19 among partly or fully vaccinated people in the United Kingdom—an increase of 40 […]
Italy Suspends AstraZeneca’s COVID Vaccine After Teen’s Brain Hemorrhage Death
The government of Italy has suspended AstraZeneca/Oxford University’s experimental AZD1222 COVID-19 vaccine for people under 60 years of age in that country. The decision, announced on June 11, 2021, follows the recent death of 18-year-old Camilla Canepa, who died of a cerebral due to a blood clot 16 days after receiving the first dose of […]
Hundreds of Thousands March in London Protesting Pandemic Restrictions, Vaccine Passports
Hundreds of thousands of British citizens marched in central London on May 29, 2021 in a “Unite for Freedom” rally to protest against the government’s COVID-19 lockdowns, vaccine passports and other pandemic-related regulations and restrictions.1 2 Chanting “no more lockdowns” and “take your freedom back,” protesters later gathered at the Westfield shopping center, which was […]
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 […]
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 […]
