COVID-19 vaccine development pipeline gears up

[EL_TIGRE_de_Tigre]

YES I should have said Swine Flu. My point was that the vaccine was rushed and it had disastrous results

Sergio,

The rush is the same this time around as well, it seems.

I do see a different dynamic though. 44 years later, the whole world is connected and interdependent like it has never been before. Until, or unless something is done about the virus, the whole planet will be partially paralyzed.

 

[sergio]

Sergio,

The rush is the same this time around as well, it seems.

I do see a different dynamic though. 44 years later, the whole world is connected and interdependent like it has never been before. Until, or unless something is done about the virus, the whole planet will be partially paralyzed.

This vaccine is projected to be 50-60% effective, probably less for people 65+. Even with a vaccine we will have to wait until herd immunity has been achieved. People will have to continue with the masks and social distancing. An effective vaccine is but one step. It will not be a panacea but a rushed vaccine may kill or severely harm people. Is that justifiable?

 

[EL_TIGRE_de_Tigre]

This vaccine is projected to be 50-60% effective, probably less for people 65+. Even with a vaccine we will have to wait until herd immunity has been achieved. People will have to continue with the masks and social distancing. An effective vaccine is but one step. It will not be a panacea but a rushed vaccine may kill or severely harm people. Is that justifiable?

NOPE! Not justifiable in my book.

I was merely stating what I feel is the urgency behind the rush.

 

[gracielle]

Published Tuesday, October 13, 2020 9:36PM EDT....Last Updated Wednesday, October 14, 2020 9:46AM EDT

Will COVID-19 become endemic? Here's what that means

No one knows when the pandemic will end, but experts say one possibility is that COVID-19 never really goes away but becomes another endemic infectious disease that scientists learn to anticipate and control.

www.ctvnews.ca

Coronavirus: superspreading events could help make COVID-19 endemic

COVID-19 appears to spread in clusters, and that could keep it coming back even if case numbers are brought down.

theconversation.com

What’s the difference between a pandemic, an epidemic, endemic, and an outbreak?

Knowing the difference is important to help you better understand public health news and appropriate public health responses.

intermountainhealthcare.org

 

[gracielle]

7 August 2020

Los detalles del ensayo clínico de la vacuna contra COVID-19 que lidera el científico Fernando Polack en el Hospital Militar

En diálogo con Infobae, el coronel del Ejército Argentino Sergio Maldonado, director del nosocomio encargado de llevar adelante las pruebas de la vacuna de los laboratorios Pfizer y BioNTech contra el coronavirus en la Argentina, se refirió a los detalles del estudio

www.infobae.com

....How the Pfizer-BioNTech Vaccine Works
As Infobae advanced, the vaccine is based on messenger RNA technology, which carries DNA instructions for the cells of the human body to generate certain protective proteins. It began its rehearsals in Germany at the end of April and in the US at the beginning of May.
Moderna's project is based on the same technology.....

The first study by Pfizer and BioNTech included 45 adults between the ages of 18 and 55, and it tested different doses of the vaccine that, according to the companies, produced antibodies higher than those of patients who have recovered from COVID-19. In a statement, Pfizer's head of vaccine research and development, Kathrin Jansen, said that the clinical data is positive and that work is being carried out with the utmost urgency. The vaccine, as specified by the companies, was generally well tolerated, although in some cases it caused fevers and local pain where it was injected, but without any serious reaction being detected. The two companies used this collected information to carry out a much larger test, with up to 30,000 participants, which is already underway in the United States, Brazil, Argentina, Germany and distributed in 120 locations globally....

The Mutual Cooperation Agreement was signed on Friday, July 31, between the representative of the Pfizer firm, Dr. Fernando Polack as principal investigator and the General Director of the Central Military Hospital. This agreement laid the foundations for mutual cooperation in the clinical study that aims to evaluate the efficacy and safety of a vaccine against SARS-CoV-2 in healthy volunteers in Argentina. It should be noted that this study has the respective authorizations of the National Administration of Medicines, Food and Medical Technology (ANMAT) and the Institutional Committee for the Review of Clinical Trials (CIREC) of this Military Hospital.

The Central Military Hospital (HMC) is the largest and most complex health center in the Argentine Army. Here all kinds of pathologies are treated, being what is commonly called, an "acute hospital". This hospital has in turn the responsibility of training future health specialists, through a system of residencies and supervised professional practices. It has more than 1,200 health professionals, distributed in more than 90 specialized medical care services....

UPDATE: 12 September 2020

Covid-19 Drugs and Vaccines Tracker

Check out STAT's Covid-19 Drugs and Vaccines Tracker, a guide to some of the most talked-about efforts to treat or prevent coronavirus infection.

www.statnews.com

BioNTech and Pfizer...Phase 3
Germany’s BioNTech is working on a multitude of mRNA vaccines for the novel coronavirus, planning to develop them in parallel. Like its competitors, the company uses strands of mRNA to generate protective antibodies. Earlier this month, Shanghai’s Fosun Pharma signed a deal to market BioNTech’s vaccine in China if it’s eventually approved. Pfizer has agreed to co-develop the vaccine in the rest of the world.

July 1: In a Phase 1 trial, BioNTech's vaccine led to an increase coronavirus antibodies at three doses, according to a preprint paper.
July 27: Pfizer and BioNTech begin enrollment on a 30,000-volunteer study, expecting data as early as October.
Sept. 12: Pfizer and BioNTech announce a plan to expand enrollment to 44,000 participants.

 

[Renzi]

While everyone has been racing to find the first Covid vaccine, it looks like we've already had a possibly effective one all along:

"I found that only pneumococcal vaccines afforded statistically significant protection against COVID-19. Nations such as Spain, Italy, Belgium, Brazil, Peru and Chile that have the highest COVID-19 rates per million have the poorest pneumococcal vaccination rates among both infants and adults. Nations with the lowest rates of COVID-19 – Japan, Korea, Denmark, Australia and New Zealand – have the highest rates of pneumococcal vaccination among both infants and adults."

Until a coronavirus vaccine is ready, pneumonia vaccines may reduce deaths from COVID-19

A COVID-19 vaccine isn’t the only tool for fighting this pandemic. An immunologist argues that safe pneumonia vaccines would reduce the severity of COVID-19, save lives and prevent the worst cases.

theconversation.com

 

[lunar]

While everyone has been racing to find the first Covid vaccine, it looks like we've already had a possibly effective one all along:

"I found that only pneumococcal vaccines afforded statistically significant protection against COVID-19. Nations such as Spain, Italy, Belgium, Brazil, Peru and Chile that have the highest COVID-19 rates per million have the poorest pneumococcal vaccination rates among both infants and adults.

 

[gracielle]

Coronavirus. Vacuna: qué dijo Fernán Quirós sobre las chances de tener una dosis lista para marzo en la Ciudad

Coronavirus. Vacuna: qué dijo Fernán Quirós sobre las chances de tener una dosis lista para marzo en la Ciudad

www.lanacion.com.ar

19 October 2020
After the National Health Minister Ginés González García said that it is expected that the vaccine could be massively ready by March, his counterpart in the Buenos Aires district, Fernán Quirós, indicated that "the manufacturers gave a certain guarantee that for that month in the City, there could be local production to start the distribution of a certain magnitude ".

However, Quirós added, cautious, that only between November and December will the results of Phase 3 of the tests may be known to see the effectiveness of these vaccines....

 

[gracielle]

Bloomberg - Are you a robot?

www.bloomberg.com

17 October 2020
Two Covid-19 vaccines stalled by potential side effects have one key feature in common: Both are based on adenoviruses, cold germs that researchers have used in experimental therapies for decades with varying results.

Johnson & Johnson said late Monday it would pause its trial to investigate an illness, which it didn’t specify, in a study participant. Meanwhile, AstraZeneca Plc’s U.S. trial of the vaccine it’s developing with the University of Oxford has been halted by regulators for more than a month after neurological symptoms arose in two volunteers.c.

With AstraZeneca in a pit stop, vaccines from Moderna Inc and the Pfizer Inc.-BioNTech SE partnership have taken the lead in the race to be first out with a shot. Meanwhile, the two paused trials are reviving questions about adenoviral vectors, which have been used in laboratory, animal and human experiments for years. In some cases, the experiments have succeeded, but not always.

And this year, with Covid-19 vaccines entering strongly into the politics of the hour, transparency and trust are key to fighting a virus that’s hit more than 39 million people globally and hamstrung economies. If concerns about side effects in experimental vaccines in trials using adenoviruses are validated, it could boost skepticism in the general public and raise questions for other drugmakers.

“While it could be a coincidence,” said Sam Fazeli, a Bloomberg Intelligence analyst, in a research note, “there’s still the possibility that adenoviral vector vaccines run a higher risk of rare side effects -- such as autoimmune attacks like transverse myelitis -- than those of Pfizer-BioNTech, Moderna or Novavax.”....

 

[gracielle]

21 October 2020

AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine trial Brazil volunteer dies, trial to continue

Brazilian health authority Anvisa said on Wednesday that a volunteer in a clinical trial of the COVID-19 vaccine developed by AstraZeneca <AZN.L> and Oxford University had died but added that the trial would continue.

www.reuters.com

AstraZeneca vaccine trial would have stopped if deceased volunteer part of active arm - source

The Brazilian trial of the COVID-19 vaccine candidate by the University of Oxford and AstraZeneca would have been suspended if the volunteer who died had been part of the active arm, a source familiar with the situation said on Wednesday.

www.reuters.com