The latest coronavirus news updated every day including coronavirus cases, the latest news, features and interviews from New Scientist and essential information about the covid-19 pandemic Source: https://www.newscientist.com/article/2237475-covid-19-news-one-dose-of-pfizer-vaccine-greatly-reduced-transmission/?utm_campaign=RSS%7CNSNS&utm_source=NSNS&utm_medium=RSS&utm_content=home…
Tag: Pfizer
Vaccines Adapted for Variants Will Not Need Lengthy Testing, FDA Says
The Food and Drug Administration said this week that vaccine developers would not need to conduct lengthy randomized controlled trials for vaccines that have been adapted to protect against concerning coronavirus variants. From a report: The recommendations, which call for small trials more like those required for annual flu vaccines, would greatly accelerate the review process at a time when scientists…
America Has Vaccinated More People Than Any Other Country in the World
Despite America’s vast population of nearly 330 million people, 42.8 million Americans have already received one or both doses of a Covid-19 vaccine. Axios writes: The U.S. has carried out more vaccinations than any country in the world, and given a first dose to a higher percentage of its population (12%) than all but five countries: Israel, the Seychelles, the UAE,…
Pfizer-BioNTech’s COVID-19 Vaccine Just Got a Lot Easier to Distribute
Pfizer and BioNTech “have asked the U.S. health regulator to relax requirements for their COVID-19 vaccine to be stored at ultra-low temperatures, potentially allowing it to be kept in pharmacy freezers,” reports Reuters, which adds that approval “could send a strong signal to other regulators around the world that may ease distribution of the shot in lower-income countries.” Slashdot reader FrankOVD…
WHO Lists AstraZeneca/Oxford COVID-19 Vaccine for Emergency Use
The World Health Organization (WHO) on Monday listed AstraZeneca and Oxford University’s COVID-19 vaccine for emergency use, widening access to the relatively inexpensive shot in the developing world. From a report: A WHO statement said it had approved the vaccine as produced by AstraZeneca-SKBio (Republic of Korea) and the Serum Institute of India. “We now have all the pieces in place…
How Our Brutal Science System Almost Cost Us a Pioneer of mRNA Vaccines
Long-time Slashdot reader theodp writes: As the first COVID-19 vaccines arrived at Penn Medicine last year, Penn Today reported with great pride, “It was mRNA research conducted at Penn—by Drew Weissman, a professor of Infectious Diseases, and Katalin Karikó, an adjunct associate professor—that helped pave the way for the development of the Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna COVID vaccines.” While Weissman and Karikó…
COVID-19 vaccines: What does 95% efficacy actually mean?
You have likely heard that Pfizer’s COVID-19 vaccine efficacy is 95%, Moderna’s is 94% and Johnson & Johnson’s is 66%. But what do these numbers actually mean? Source: https://www.livescience.com/covid-19-vaccine-efficacy-explained.html
Pfizer Is Doubling Its Output of Covid-19 Vaccines
31.9 million Americans have already received one or both doses of a Covid-19 vaccine — including more than 9.3 million people who have been fully vaccinated. And now USA Today reports: Pfizer expects to nearly cut in half the amount of time it takes to produce a batch of COVID-19 vaccine from 110 days to an average of 60 as it…
Russian Campaign Promotes Homegrown Vaccine and Undercuts Rivals
An anonymous reader quotes a report from The New York Times: Russian news outlets connected to election disinformation campaigns in the United States have set their sights on a new target: convincing Spanish-speaking countries that the Russian coronavirus vaccine works better than its American competitors, according to researchers and State Department officials. The Russian campaign has focused on Latin American nations,…
Why Scientists Are Very Worried About the Variant From Brazil
An anonymous reader quotes a report from NPR: New coronavirus variants seem to be cropping up everywhere. There’s one from the U.K., which is more contagious and already circulating in the United States. There’s one from South Africa, which is forcing Moderna and Pfizer to reformulate their COVID-19 vaccines and create “booster” shots, just to make sure the vaccines maintain their…