Vaccine

A vaccine is a biological preparation that improves immunity to a particular disease. A vaccine typically contains an agent that resembles a disease-causing microorganism, and is often made from weakened or killed forms of the microbe. The agent stimulates the body's immune system to recognize the agent as foreign, destroy it, and "remember" it, so that the immune system can more easily recognize and destroy any of these microorganisms that it later encounters.

What are Vaccines?

There are several diseases like Diphtheria, whooping cough (pertussis), measles, mumps, Yellow fever, small pox and German measles (rubella) that are unfamiliar to many these days.

Vaccine History

Vaccine Schedule

Vaccine Effectiveness

Vaccine Production

Vaccine Excipients

Vaccine Delivery

Vaccine Immunity

Hib Immunization

History of Vaccination

Latest Vaccine News and Research

S-pseudotyped VLPs offer promising COVID-19 vaccine platform

A new study published on the preprint server bioRxiv* in September 2020 reports on a Moloney murine leukemia virus (MLV) platform that produces VLPs expressing the important spike antigen of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2).

18 Sep 2020

T cells on the front line of COVID-19 response

In the new study, published in the journal Cell, the team has found that the uncoordinated responses produced by the immune system, especially in people who are more than 65 years old, maybe the reason why older adults are more at risk.

17 Sep 2020

Michigan sees increasing EEE cases

In the United States, the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services (MDHHS) urge people to stay indoors, especially after dusk. Health officials have confirmed 22 horse cases of Eastern Equine Encephalitis (EEE), and one suspected human case.

17 Sep 2020

New drug candidate suppresses SARS-CoV-2 replication

Researchers at Stanford University and Utah State University have developed a novel inhibitor of the coronavirus main protease (Mpro) that effectively suppresses the viral replication of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2).

17 Sep 2020

KHN’s ‘What the Health?’: It’s scandal week

President Donald Trump finally released his promised executive order aimed at bringing down drug costs.

17 Sep 2020

Study: T cells play a vital role in controlling SARS-CoV-2 during acute phase of infection

Ever since SARS-CoV-2 first appeared, researchers have been trying to understand whether sometimes the immune system does more harm than good during the acute phase of COVID-19. The latest study by researchers at La Jolla Institute for Immunology clearly argues in favor of the immune system.

17 Sep 2020

Optimal antibody combinations and Fc binding inhibit SARS-CoV-2 in vivo

A recent study by researchers at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and The Rockefeller University and published on the preprint server bioRxiv in September 2020 shows that a combination of neutralizing antibodies with intact Fc effector function can effectively reduce the viral load and prevent infection.

17 Sep 2020

Self-assembling nanoparticles as a way towards next-generation COVID-19 vaccines

In a promising study by US researchers, the receptor-binding domain (RBD) and stabilized spike glycoprotein of the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) were displayed on nanoparticles as vaccine antigens and elicited potent immune responses.

16 Sep 2020

Candidate monoclonal antibody shows hope as COVID-19 treatment

Researchers in the United States have described the effectiveness of a candidate monoclonal antibody currently being evaluated in a Phase 1 trial as a therapy for coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) and its causative agent, severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2).

16 Sep 2020

Sub-Saharan Africa needs greater access to live-saving antibodies

Sub-Saharan Africa must increase access to live-saving, laboratory-produced antibodies, writes Yolanda Moyo.

16 Sep 2020

COVID vaccine trials move at warp speed, but recruiting Black volunteers takes time

Participation in clinical trials among Black people is low, according to Food and Drug Administration statistics.

16 Sep 2020

AI and machine learning tools can help separate COVID-related claims

As the COVID-19 pandemic has swept the world, researchers have published hundreds of papers each week reporting their findings - many of which have not undergone a thorough peer review process to gauge their reliability.

16 Sep 2020

Study highlights role of specific protein in the mass production of antibodies

Antibodies play a fundamental role in medicine, and antibody-mediated immune response is the ultimate target in the quest for a vaccine to defeat the current pandemic.

16 Sep 2020

SARS-CoV-2 infection severity linked to superior humoral immunity against the S-protein

In a recent bioRxiv* preprint paper, Jenna J. Guthmiller et al., focus on the acute infection of SARS-CoV-2 and observe that the humoral immunity is distinctive with the infection stage and viral antigens.

16 Sep 2020

New antibody assay for COVID-19 promises sensitive mass-scale detection

A new paper by researchers at McMaster University and Hamilton Health Sciences, published on the preprint server medRxiv in September 2020, reports on the development of a serologic assay that is suitable for sensitive high-throughput antibody testing for COVID-19.

15 Sep 2020

Immunologists analyze types of immune response to predict an effective COVID-19 vaccine

Immune reactions caused by vaccination can help protect the organism, or sometimes may aggravate the condition.

15 Sep 2020

NIH and FDA examine serious side effect that surfaced in COVID vaccine trial

The Food and Drug Administration is weighing whether to follow British regulators in resuming a coronavirus vaccine trial that was halted when a participant suffered spinal cord damage, even as the National Institutes of Health has launched an investigation of the case.

14 Sep 2020

Oxford University and AstraZeneca resume COVID-19 vaccine trial

More than a hundred candidate vaccine trials against the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), the virus that causes the coronavirus disease (COVID-19), are underway. About 35 are now undergoing clinical evaluation, and of these, nine are in the final phase of human trials, including the vaccine developed by Oxford University and the biopharmaceutical firm, AstraZeneca.

14 Sep 2020

Children's Hospital Los Angeles is U.S. site for new study of SARS-CoV-2 spread within households

One of the mysteries about severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), the virus that causes COVID-19, is how it is spread within households, including why some family members develop the viral infection and others do not.

14 Sep 2020

Should a COVID-19 vaccine be mandatory for children?

As the search for a severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) vaccine continues, with some candidate vaccines nearing the completion Phase III clinical trials, a trio of experts weighs in with some sound reasoning as to whether any future vaccine should be considered mandatory for children. The viewpoint article is published in the journal JAMA Pediatrics in September 2020.

14 Sep 2020