Immunization News and Research

RSS

Routine BCG immunization in infancy and COVID-19 containment in Japan

. A new study explores whether and how the practice of routine BCG vaccination of infants may have curbed the initial spread of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) infection in Japan. The research is published in the Journal of Infection.

19 Aug 2020

Majority of recovered COVID-19 patients have low neutralizing antibody titers

Now, a new study by researchers at New York University and published on the preprint server bioRxiv* in August 2020 reports on the type and intensity of anti-SARS-CoV-2 antibodies in recovered COVID-19 patients and the implications of these findings.

18 Aug 2020

Pre-COVID-19 coronavirus immunity does not protect against SARS-CoV-2

A recent study by researchers in France that's currently available on the medRxiv* preprint server claims that having previous immunity against common coronaviruses (alpha and beta) cannot protect against severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2).

17 Aug 2020

Trust, fear and solidarity will determine the success of a COVID vaccine

Thousands of letters stuffed with money flooded Jonas Salk's mailbox the week after his polio vaccine was declared safe and effective in 1955. Everybody wanted his vaccine.

17 Aug 2020

De novo designed SARS-CoV-2 nanoparticle vaccine

In light of the continuing threat to public health, social functioning, and economic activity posed by the COVID-19 pandemic, scientists are working urgently to bring out a vaccine that is both safe and effective, and capable of mass production. A new paper published on the preprint server bioRxiv* in August 2020 shows that such a vaccine may be produced by using arrays of one severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) protein on a nanoparticle platform.

14 Aug 2020

Why you should get your flu shots amid the coronavirus pandemic

Health experts from the National Public Health Organization, the Andreas Sygros Hospital, and the Kapodistrian University in Greece say that influenza shots to reduce the risk of flu are crucial, particularly this coming fall or winter when the flu season usually kick starts. Their work is published in the journal Vaccine.

12 Aug 2020

Test, trace, isolate key to safe schools in COVID-19

Researchers led by Professor Kristine Maccartney from the National Centre for Immunization Research and surveillance, the Children's Hospital at Westmead and the University of Westmead, Australia explain that schools around the world have shut down to prevent the virus transmission.

4 Aug 2020

Stabilized prefusion spike vaccine candidate induces powerful immune response

A new research paper by scientists at Janssen Vaccines & Prevention BV, in the Netherlands and published on the preprint server bioRxiv* is based on the assumption that an effective vaccine against these infections will induce neutralizing antibodies and an immune response favoring Th1 immunity.

3 Aug 2020

Novel vaccine candidate robustly protects non-human primates against SARS-CoV-2

The development of a safe and effective vaccine will likely be required to end the COVID-19 pandemic. A group of scientists, led by Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center immunologist Dan H. Barouch, MD, PhD, now report that a leading candidate COVID-19 vaccine developed at BIDMC in collaboration with Johnson & Johnson raised neutralizing antibodies and robustly protected non-human primates against SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19.

30 Jul 2020

Exciting cost-effective SARS-CoV-2 vaccine candidate using Newcastle disease

Experts warn that the world may see repeated waves of the COVID-19 pandemic. However, scientists around the world are working hard to create a protective vaccine or antiviral, which could help to reduce the number of deaths and cases the next time around.

29 Jul 2020

Iron deficiency during infancy may reduce protective effect of vaccines

Despite the fact that global immunization programmes are now reaching more people than ever, about 1.5 million children still die every year from diseases that vaccination could have prevented. Vaccination is also less effective in low-income countries than in high-income countries, although it is not yet clear why.

28 Jul 2020

Pitt collaborative receives $7 million to evaluate convalescent plasma therapy for COVID-19

A team of University of Pittsburgh, Michigan Medicine, Medical University of South Carolina and Stanford Medicine. researchers recently were awarded funds from the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute in collaboration with the Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority, part of the Office of the Assistant Secretary for Preparedness and Response at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, totaling more than $7 million to collaboratively study the role of convalescent plasma in mitigating symptoms of COVID-19 in patients with mild illness and preventing the progression of the disease from mild to severe.

28 Jul 2020

Researchers identify practical way to induce strong and broad immunity to dengue virus

Researchers from Singapore-MIT Alliance for Research and Technology (SMART), MIT's research enterprise in Singapore, have found a practical way to induce a strong and broad immunity to the dengue virus based on proof-of-concept studies in mice.

28 Jul 2020

Study shows parental hesitancy to begin and complete child's HPV vaccine series

Study results documenting parental hesitancy to begin and complete their child's HPV vaccine series were published in The Lancet Public Health by researchers at The University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston.

22 Jul 2020

Survey: Almost 60% of parents are reluctant to protect their children from HPV

22 Jul 2020

COVID-19 vaccine displays protective traits in nonhuman primates

A replicating RNA vaccine, formulated with a lipid-based nanoparticle emulsion that goes by the acronym LION, produces antibodies against the COVID-19 coronavirus in mice and primates with a single immunization. These antibodies potently neutralize the virus.

20 Jul 2020

Benefits of routine childhood immunizations far outweigh the risk of SARS-CoV-2 transmission

The health benefits of maintaining routine childhood vaccination programmes in Africa during the COVID-19 pandemic far outweigh the risk of SARS-CoV-2 transmission that might be associated with clinic visits, according to a modelling study published in The Lancet Global Health journal.

19 Jul 2020

Latent tuberculosis infection in European countries closely correlates with COVID-19 infection

In a recent medRxiv preprint research paper, scientists from India analyzed twenty European countries and showed that the prevalence of exposure to Mycobacterium spp. (which includes BCG vaccine) is consistently negatively correlated with coronavirus disease (COVID-19) infections.

15 Jul 2020

Llama nanobodies block SARS-CoV-2 infection in vitro

Now, a team of scientists at the United Kingdom's Rosalind Franklin Institute may have a surprising solution for the coronavirus pandemic, which has killed more than 574,000 people worldwide.

14 Jul 2020

A new measles-based COVID-19 vaccine

Now, a new study by researchers from Germany's Paul Ehrlich Institute and published on the preprint server bioRxiv in July 2020 describes a potential vaccine based on the measles vaccine, which elicits both an antibody response and cellular immunity against the virus. This also protects against the measles virus. This could be a significant weapon in the fight against these two threats.

14 Jul 2020