On May 18, 2020, Moderna, Inc. of Cambridge, Massachusetts announced that it had obtained “positive interim clinical data” from a Phase 1 human clinical trial of its experimental mRNA-1273 COVID-19 vaccine that began on Mar. 16. The biotechnology company said that eight of the 45 healthy adult volunteer trial subjects developed antibodies that may provide […]
A new study out of Germany using antibody testing shows that the coronavirus may not be as fatal as once previously thought. The study focused on one of the hardest hit regions in Germany called Heinsberg. It found that 15 percent of the population had antibodies for the virus in this area, suggesting that they […]
Story Highlights Unlike most other countries, Sweden has not enforced nationwide lockdowns and home quarantines to combat the spread of COVID-19, instead relying on individual citizens to voluntarily follow the government’s suggested guidelines for social distancing to protect the vulnerable. So far, both the number of COVID-19 cases and deaths are higher in Sweden than […]
Vitamin D, the fat-soluble hormone produced in the body when sunlight hits the skin, is responsible not only for bone health but is also believed to help regulate the immune and neuromuscular systems. Vitamin D deficiency has been linked to breast cancer, colon cancer, prostate cancer, heart disease, depression, weight gain and other maladies.1 Research […]
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 […]
The Swedish government decided early, in January, that the measures we should take against the [COVID-19] pandemic should be evidence-based. And when you start looking around at the measures that are being taken now by different countries, you find that very few of them have a shred of evidence base. But one we know that’s […]
Opinion | Politicians are dreaming of a “Manhattan Project-style effort” to develop and distribute a coronavirus vaccine “for most Americans by year’s end.” To accomplish this dramatic cut in vaccine development time, “the program will pull together private pharmaceutical companies, government agencies and the military.” Normal vaccine development time is significantly longer. Fourteen potential coronavirus vaccines are vying to […]
A curious thing is happening amid the COVID-19 pandemic: As COVID-19 cases and deaths mount, hospital admissions for other acute ailments are markedly dropping. In an Apr. 6, 2020, New York Times article, Dr. Harlan Krumholz—professor of medicine at Yale and director of the Yale New Haven Hospital Center for Outcomes Research and Evaluation—notes:1 The […]
Story Highlights The Chicago Department of Public Health has launched a website and a mobile device application encouraging residents to pre-register to get for a future COVID-19 vaccine. Chicago’s Mayor said the electronic database will be used to prepare plans for mass vaccination of all residents after a COVID-19 vaccine is licensed by the FDA […]
New York has been struggling with responding to one of the worst COVD-19 outbreaks in the world. As of Apr. 25, 2020, an estimated 271,600 people in New York State and 141,754 in New York City have been infected with COVID-19.1 In response to this health crisis, New York Governor Andrew Cuomo has issued an […]