COVID-19 vaccine development pipeline gears up

[gracielle]

UPDATE: 26 February 2021

Comparing COVID-19 vaccines: How are they different?

Even if you're still waiting for a vaccine, watching the first people get their COVID-19 vaccinations may have felt like a huge relief. As the weeks pass, countless reports are coming out about the effectiveness of new vaccines that may be approved. It's important to keep up, but it's also a...

medicalxpress.com

 

[gracielle]

UPDATE: 26 February 2021

Panel Recommends FDA Authorize Johnson & Johnson Vaccine For Emergency Use

The Food and Drug Administration typically follows the advice of its expert advisers. A quick agency decision on the Johnson & Johnson vaccine is expected given the state of the pandemic.

www.npr.org

How does the Johnson & Johnson vaccine compare to other coronavirus vaccines? 4 questions answered

The Johnson & Johnson vaccine is different from the Moderna and Pfizer vaccines in a few important ways that could make it a huge help to global vaccination efforts.

theconversation.com

 

[gracielle]

Israeli studies find Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine reduces transmission

Pfizer's COVID-19 vaccine greatly reduces virus transmission, two Israeli studies have found, shedding light on one of the biggest questions of the global effort to quash the pandemic.

www.reuters.com

 

[gracielle]

El COVID-19 rara vez se propaga a través de superficies: ¿por qué seguimos desinfectando?

El coronavirus puede permanecer en los pomos de las puertas y otras superficies, pero estas no son una fuente importante de infección, advierte una investigación publicada en la revista científica Nature

www.infobae.com

03 February 2021
COVID-19 rarely spreads through surfaces: why do we keep disinfecting? Coronavirus can remain on doorknobs and other surfaces, but these are not a major source of infection, warns research published in the journal Scientific Nature.

....Armed with year-long data on coronavirus cases, researchers say one fact is clear. It is the people, not the surfaces, that should be the main concern. Evidence of over-propagation events, where many people are infected at once, usually in a crowded indoor space, clearly points to airborne transmission, Marr says. "You have to come up with some really complicated scenarios to explain superpropagation events with contaminated surfaces," he explains.

Hand washing is essential, Marr says, because superficial transmission cannot be ruled out. But it's more important to upgrade ventilation systems or install air purifiers than to sterilize surfaces, he says. "If we've already paid attention to the air and have some extra time and resources, then yes, cleaning those high-touch surfaces could be helpful," he says.

Homes can relax, too, Pickering says. Quarantining food or sanitizing all surfaces is going too far. "That's a lot of work and it's probably not reducing your exposure that much," he says. Instead, reasonable hand hygiene as well as wearing a mask and social distancing to reduce exposure from close contacts is a better place to focus efforts....

UPDATE: 19 February 2021

Coronavirus (COVID-19) Overview

COVID-19 is a new type of coronavirus that causes mild to severe cases. Here’s a quick guide on how to spot symptoms, risk factors, prevent spread of the disease, and find out what to do if you think you have it.

www.webmd.com

 

[gracielle]

UPDATE: 28 February 2021

J&J's 1-dose shot cleared, giving US 3rd COVID-19 vaccine

The U.S. is getting a third vaccine to prevent COVID-19, as the Food and Drug Administration on Saturday cleared a Johnson & Johnson shot that works with just one dose instead of two.

medicalxpress.com

 

[dsp27]

Met someone who works for the lab that produces the Oxford vaccine here in Argentina (or at least the first step of the production), these are then shipped to Mexico to be finished off and packaged. He said that they are on schedule in Argentina and keep sending the "primer" to MX but that Mexican partner is backed up -- they don't have the insumos so there will be delays.

 

[gracielle]

UPDATE: 28 February 2021

J&J's 1-dose shot cleared, giving US 3rd COVID-19 vaccine

The U.S. is getting a third vaccine to prevent COVID-19, as the Food and Drug Administration on Saturday cleared a Johnson & Johnson shot that works with just one dose instead of two.

medicalxpress.com

UPDATE: 2 March 2021

Biden accelerates vaccination timeline after manufacturing deal

The Biden administration helped broker the deal after reports earlier this year that J&J was struggling with production delays.

www.politico.com

 

[gracielle]

Argentina recibirá casi 2 millones de dosis de vacuna a través de la iniciativa Covax | Lo confirmó en un comunicado la iniciativa de acceso global equitativo a los medicamentos

El país es uno de los destinos para la "primera ronda de asignaciones", por lo cual hasta mayo de este año llegarán 1.944.000 unidades de la producida por AstraZeneca-Oxford, precisó un comunicado del mecanismo liderado por la OMS y la Alianza de Vacu...

www.pagina12.com.ar

3 March 2021
Argentina will receive almost 2 million doses of vaccine through the Covax initiative. The country is one of the destinations for the "first round of allocations", for which until May of this year 1,944,000 units of the one produced by AstraZeneca-Oxford will arrive, said a statement from the mechanism led by the WHO and the Alliance of Vaccines.

Until May, Argentina will receive almost two million doses of the coronavirus vaccine developed by AstraZeneca-Oxford as part of the Covax initiative, the mechanism that guarantees equitable global access to these drugs. The project led by the WHO and Gavi -the Vaccine Alliance-, detailed it in a statement in which they reported the list of the 142 countries that will receive the 237 million doses of vaccines developed by the University of Oxford and the AstraZeneca laboratory and 1.2 million from the Pfizer-Biontech laboratory.

"Based on current knowledge of supply availability, this first round of assignments provides information on the supply of AstraZeneca/Oxford vaccine doses to Covax Initiative participants, through May 2021," reads the text. , which specified that 1,944,000 doses will arrive in Argentina....

....The deadlines for the arrival in the country of Covax vaccines will be announced at the end of this week, although it was already anticipated that deliveries will be divided into two batches: "February-March and April-May." "These deadlines depend on a variety factors, including national regulatory requirements, availability of supply and compliance with other criteria, such as national implementation and vaccination plans, indemnification and liability agreements, and export and import authorizations, ”Covax said....

 

[artisans]

It is the first in Latin America
The Cuban Soberana 02 vaccine enters phase 3 of clinical trials
The Cuban authorities authorized the beginning of the third phase of clinical trials for Sovereign 02 , one of the vaccines that the country develops against the coronavirus. Thus, the Cuban drug becomes the first vaccine candidate in Latin America and the Caribbean to pass Phase II of studies.
The director of Cecmed, Olga Jacobo Casanueva, stressed that "the vaccine is very safe and clinical evidence supports it to move to Phase III", after a "exhaustive assessment of the clinical trial file" on the drug.
Cuba has five vaccine projects....
Details at Pagina12: https://www.pagina12.com.ar/327510-la-vacuna-cubana-soberana-02-entra-en-la-fase-3-de-ensayos-c

 

[artisans]

A new pill against COVID-19 obtains promising results in preliminary tests
The antiviral Molnupiravir reduced the infectious virus during phase two of the study. Scientists believe that it will fulfill the same type of function that Tamiflu, the drug used for the flu, plays.

An experimental drug to treat Covid-19, which promises to be a species of Tamiflu - selective antiviral against the influenza virus - has obtained positive results in a preliminary study, according to The Wall Street Journal.
The pill, called molnupiravir, is being developed by Ridgeback Biotherapeutics LP and Merck MRK & Co., and significantly reduced the infectious virus in patients during a phase two study after five days of treatment.

Source and full article: Infobae

Una nueva píldora contra el COVID-19 obtiene resultados prometedores en las pruebas preliminares

El antiviral molnupiravir redujo el virus infeccioso durante la fase dos del estudio. Los científicos creen que cumplirá el mismo tipo de función que desempeña el Tamiflu, el fármaco que se usa para la gripe

www.infobae.com