Vaccines

AstraZeneca revealed details of its large coronavirus vaccine trials on Saturday, the third in a wave of rare disclosures by drug companies under pressure to be more transparent about how they are testing products that are the world’s best hope for ending the pandemic.

Polls are finding Americans increasingly wary of accepting a coronavirus vaccine. And scientists inside and outside the government are worried that regulators, pressured by the president for results before Election Day on Nov. 3, might release an unproven or unsafe vaccine.

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Could a Century-Old TB Shot Protect Against Other Respiratory Diseases?

Mon, 2020-09-21 17:33 — mike kraft

Could a Century-Old TB Shot Protect Against Other Respiratory Diseases? A trial in Greece shows a long-used tuberculosis vaccine may cut respiratory infections, raising hopes for similar protection against Covid-19. Gayathri Vaidyanathan Wired

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UPDATE: Moderna and Pfizer Reveal Secret Blueprints for Coronavirus Vaccine Trials

Fri, 2020-09-18 10:22 — mike kraft

Two drug companies that are leading the race to develop coronavirus vaccines bowed to public pressure on Thursday, abandoning their traditional secrecy and releasing comprehensive road maps of how they are evaluating their vaccines.

The companies, Moderna and Pfizer, revealed details about how participants are being selected and monitored, the conditions under which the trials could be stopped early if there were problems, and the evidence researchers will use to determine whether people who got the vaccines were protected from Covid-19.

Moderna’s study will involve 30,000 participants, and Pfizer’s 44,000.

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C.D.C. Testing Guidance Was Published Against Scientists’ Objections --NYTimes

Thu, 2020-09-17 21:55 — mike kraft

A heavily criticized recommendation from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention last month about who should be tested for the coronavirus was not written by C.D.C. scientists and was posted to the agency’s website despite their serious objections, according to several people familiar with the matter as well as internal documents obtained by The New York Times.

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UPDATE on Moderna and Pfizer vaccine progress

Thu, 2020-09-17 19:31 — mike kraft

Moderna CEO expects to know in November whether COVID-19 vaccine works More than 25,000 people are enrolled in the drugmaker's late-stage trial of a potential coronavirus vaccine. Aimee Picchi cbsmoneywatch

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US outlines sweeping plan to provide free COVID-19 vaccines

Wed, 2020-09-16 10:03 — mike kraft

US outlines sweeping plan to provide free COVID-19 vaccines WASHINGTON (AP) — The federal government outlined a sweeping plan Wednesday to make vaccines for COVID-19 available for free to all Americans, even as polls show a strong undercurrent of... AP NEWS

WASHINGTON (AP) — The federal government outlined a sweeping plan Wednesday to make vaccines for COVID-19 available for free to all Americans, even as polls show a strong undercurrent of skepticism rippling across the land.

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HHS chief overrode FDA officials to ease testing rules

Tue, 2020-09-15 17:16 — mike kraft

HHS chief overrode FDA officials to ease testing rules Alex Azar took matters into his own hands, overriding objections from FDA chief Stephen Hahn. POLITICO

Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar led an escalating pressure campaign against his own Food and Drug Administration this spring and summer, urging the agency to abandon its responsibility for ensuring the safety and accuracy of a range of coronavirus tests as the pandemic raged.

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ANALYSIS: Why a vaccine will not stop the Covid-19 pandemic right away

Tue, 2020-09-15 09:31 — mike kraft

Here's why a vaccine will not stop the Covid-19 pandemic right away Experts say even if a coronavirus vaccine was approved in January or even earlier, it will be many months before it has an effect on the pandemic. Maggie Fox, CNN CNN

... while vaccine manufacturers, public health experts and the federal government are all confident one or more of the coronavirus vaccines being tested now will be shown to work safely by the end of the year, the US and the world will still be a long way from ending the pandemic.

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