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Pharmaceutical giant AstraZeneca said on Monday that its Covid-19 vaccine could be up to 90 percent effective in preventing the disease. The creators of the AstraZeneca vaccine, which uses a weakened version of a common cold virus, said it could be administered in existing healthcare settings, like medical clinics and local pharmacies, and stored at refrigerator temperature of 2 to 8 degrees Celsius (36 to 46 degrees Fahrenheit) for at least six months.
The antiviral remdesivir should not be used as treatment for hospitalized Covid-19 patients, the World Health Organization said Thursday, only a month after the Food and Drug Administration approved the drug to treat patients over age 12 who are hospitalized with Covid-19. Remdesivir, also known as Veklury, and the steroid dexamethasone are the only drugs authorized to treat Covid-19 patients.
The COVID-19 vaccine developed by Oxford University produces a strong immune response in older adults, data from early trials have shown. The phase one and phase two results suggest that one of the groups most at risk of death or serious illness from COVID-19 may be able to build immunity, according to data published in The Lancet medical journal.
The Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine has now proved 95% effective in preventing coronavirus and has met the safety criteria needed for emergency authorization, the firms have said. Pfizer and BioNTech say they plan to submit the COVID-19 vaccine to the US regulator for emergency use approval “within days” after “no serious safety concerns” were reported. It also proved 94% effective among adults over the age of 65 – who are generally more vulnerable.
The race for a coronavirus vaccine has received another shot in the arm with the US biotech firm Moderna becoming the latest to reveal impressive results from phase 3 trials of its jab. An interim analysis released on Monday, and based on 95 patients with confirmed Covid infections, found the candidate vaccine has an efficacy of 94.5%. In the analysis, 90 of the patients received the placebo with the remaining five the vaccine.
The scientist behind the first Covid-19 vaccine to clear interim clinical trials says he is confident his product can “bash the virus over the head” and put an end to the pandemic that has held the world hostage in 2020. The German company BioNTech and the US pharmaceutical giant Pfizer announced via a press release on Monday that their jointly developed vaccine candidate had outperformed expectations in the crucial phase 3 trials.
Coronavirus tests in New York City are coming back positive at the highest rate since the first wave of the pandemic receded in June. “This is our LAST chance to stop a second wave,” tweeted Mayor Bill de Blasio. Gov. Andrew Cuomo has imposed new restrictions over the last two weeks in the Hudson Valley and central and western portions of upstate New York to contain outbreaks there.
The Brazilian clinical trial for a Chinese Covid-19 vaccine has been suspended after health authorities reported a “severe adverse” incident. Brazilian health regulator Anvisa said the incident took place on 29 October, but did not give further details. The CoronaVac vaccine, developed by the Chinese firm Sinovac Biotech, is one of several in final-stage testing globally. Sinovac says it is “confident in the safety of the vaccine”.
The coronavirus vaccine being developed by Pfizer and BioNTech has been found to be 90% effective in preventing people from getting the virus, it has been confirmed. Phase 3 of Pfizer’s trial involved 43,538 participants. They received two doses of either the immunization or a placebo, with 90% protected from the virus within 28 days of having their jabs. Only 94 people who took part in the trial developed coronavirus and no serious safety concerns were reported.
The number of coronavirus cases around the globe topped 50 million Sunday as Covid-19 continued to surge in the United States and Europe, according to a tally from Johns Hopkins University. The U.S., which last week had its highest single-day case counts since the pandemic began, led the world with 10 million cases and more than 239,000 deaths. Public health experts have warned that the country could record more than 2,000 deaths a day by January.