Vaccines currently being used to prevent COVID-19 were developed with a newer technique that scientists are attempting to use to produce vaccines for HIV, cancer and other ailments. COVID-19 vaccines from Moderna and Pfizer/BioNTech, which have been approved for use in the U.S. and are currently being distributed, were developed using messenger RNA (mRNA). Although scientists have been working to...
(zhengshun tang/Moment/Getty Images) SARAH OTTO, THE CONVERSATION 23 JANUARY 2021 A new variant of coronavirus has swept across the United Kingdom and been detected in the United States, Canada, and elsewhere. Scientists are concerned that these new strains may spread more easily. As an evolutionary biologist, I study how mutation and selection combine to shape changes in populations over time...
There was good news and bad news on the LA Covid-19 front on Friday. On the one hand, the key numbers were down virtually across the board. On the other hand, with virus variants worrying officials and the region’s vaccine rollout sputtering, there was concern of another surge. “Cases have peaked at about 15,000 a day and now appear to be on the decline,” said Los Angeles County Chief Science...
Nearly 2,000 doses of a COVID-19 vaccine were spoiled at a Veterans Affairs hospital in Boston after a contractor accidentally unplugged a freezer, hospital officials announced Thursday. Staff at the Jamaica Plain VA Medical Center discovered on Tuesday that a freezer had failed, compromising 1,900 doses of the Moderna COVID-19 vaccine. The plug to the freezer was found to be loose after a...
It’s been a big few days for Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute for Allergy and Infectious Diseases, since President Joe Biden took office Wednesday and began making major changes to the nation’s approach to global health. Fauci spoke with WTOP about those changes, as well as COVID-19 variants, the vaccines that have been developed for the ongoing fight and the way vaccines...
BARCELONA — It was a bad end to a bad COVID week in Europe. On Friday evening, British Prime Minister Boris Johnson announced that researchers had found “some evidence” that the recently discovered U.K. variant of the coronavirus, which was already known to be more contagious than the original strain and has prompted an alarming surge of cases and a lockdown in that country, “may be associated...
The serious outcomes that may arise from COVID-19 disease, like hospitalization and death, far exceed side effects from vaccines, say experts at Johns Hopkins University. The country has to overcome vaccine hesitancy in its route out of the pandemic, though some are concerned over side effects and long term outcomes after vaccination, Dr. Brian Garibaldi, assistant professor at Johns Hopkins...
NASHVILLE – The Tennessee Department of Health has updated Tennessee’s COVID-19 Vaccination Plan as the state continues to prioritize Tennesseans most at risk of illness and death from COVID-19. Protecting Medically Fragile Children and Adults Tennessee has added people living in households with medically fragile children to Phase 1c of the state’s COVID-19 Vaccination Plan. Vaccination of their...
NEW YORK (WABC) — Johnson & Johnson says it plans to have enough vaccines for 100 million Americans by April. Right now, the vaccine is undergoing a large scale trial to make sure it’s safe and effective. Doctor Anthony Fauci says Johnson & Johnson is close to seeking an emergency use authorization from the FDA. This vaccine only requires one shot and does not need to be...
As COVID-19 continues to run its course, the likeliest long-term outcome is that the virus SARS-CoV-2 becomes endemic in large swaths of the world, constantly circulating among the human population but causing fewer cases of severe disease. Eventually—years or even decades in the future—COVID-19 could transition into a mild childhood illness, like the four endemic human coronaviruses that...