Vaccine News and Research

Latest Vaccine News and Research

New SARS-CoV-2 variants resistant to convalescent sera and and monoclonal antibodies

Researchers studying the effect of convalescent sera and monoclonal antibodies from recovered patients found the UK and South African SARS-CoV-2 variants are more resistant to neutralization compared to the wild-type virus.

25 Jan 2021

Herd immunity to SARS-CoV-2 may not be achievable with current vaccines

A recent preprint research paper posted on the medRxiv server asks the question: “Is “herd immunity” to COVID-19 a realistic outcome of any immunization program with the two main vaccines currently licensed in the UK?”

25 Jan 2021

Vaccine ramp-up squeezes covid testing and tracing

California Gov. Gavin Newsom, under growing pressure to jump-start a faltering covid-19 vaccine rollout, jetted to Los Angeles on Jan. 15 to unveil a massive new vaccination site at Dodger Stadium that is expected eventually to inoculate 12,000 people a day.

25 Jan 2021

Experts provide overview of deaths reported in Europe following BNT162b2 vaccination

The GACVS COVID-19 Vaccine Safety subcommittee met virtually on Tuesday, 19 January 2021, to review available information and data on deaths reported in frail, elderly individuals who had received the Pfizer BioNTech COVID-19 mRNA vaccine, BNT162b2 (hereafter, BNT162b2).

25 Jan 2021

Scientists call for strict control measures to reduce the spread of new COVID-19 variants

A group of scientists is calling on governments to consider the continued use of strict control measures as the only way to reduce the evolution and spread of new COVID-19 variants.

25 Jan 2021

Study looks at anxiety of HCW during the COVID-19 pandemic

The study reveals that healthcare workers from Saudi Arabia suffer from a high level of anxiety due to a higher risk of acquiring severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) infection. The study is currently available on the medRxiv* preprint server.

24 Jan 2021

Experts advise disaggregating data on COVID-19 patients by sex

Researchers at Yale University School of Medicine have highlighted the importance of ensuring studies of patients with coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) report data in a sex-disaggregated manner.

24 Jan 2021

Researchers show how to estimate long-term efficacy of COVID-19 vaccines

Researchers at the University of North Carolina and the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center in Washington have developed a way to evaluate vaccines' long-term efficacy against severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) – the agent that causes coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19).

24 Jan 2021

First-ever systematic review to understand geographic factors that affect HPV vaccination rates

Human papillomavirus (HPV) is the most common sexually transmitted infection, with an estimated 79 million Americans currently infected with the virus, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

22 Jan 2021

Corning to highlight newest products in 3D cell culture portfolio at SLAS2021

Corning Incorporated will highlight its latest technologies that support the advancement of 3D cell culture, automation, and drug discovery at this year's virtual Society for Laboratory Automation and Screening (SLAS) conference on Jan. 25 through 27.

22 Jan 2021

Study shows disproportionate impact of COVID-19 on Black and Asian populations

Patients of Asian and black backgrounds suffered disproportionate rates of premature death from COVID-19, according to a study of 1,737 patients by Queen Mary University of London and Barts Health NHS Trust.

22 Jan 2021

NCCN provides new guidance for COVID-19 vaccinations in people with cancer

The National Comprehensive Cancer Network put out new information today to provide guidance for COVID-19 vaccinations in people with cancer.

22 Jan 2021

Novel neutralizing antibodies targeting SARS-CoV-2 N-terminal domain discovered

A new study by US-based researchers shows the presence of protective antibodies that target the N-terminal domain (NTD) of the spike instead of the spike receptor-binding domain (RBD).

22 Jan 2021

Study identifies a host of agents with anti-SARS-CoV-2 potential

A team of researchers at the Genomics Research Center, Academia Sinica, in Taiwan, evaluated the efficacy of 2,855 agents against SARS-CoV-2.

22 Jan 2021

Accurate quantitative COVID-19 antibody test kit by EKF

EKF Diagnostics, the global in vitro diagnostics company, announces that it has introduced one of the first tests to precisely measure levels of COVID-19 neutralizing antibodies in individuals.

From EKF Diagnostics 22 Jan 2021

Vaccinating people over 60 is the most effective way to mitigate COVID-19 mortality

Vaccinating people over 60 is the most effective way to mitigate mortality from COVID-19, a new age-based modeling study suggests.

22 Jan 2021

Trial results support efficacy of incentivizing vaccine adherence

As the United States struggles to control record-breaking increases in COVID-19 infections and hospitalizations, the roll-out of two approved vaccines offers tremendous hope for saving lives and curbing the pandemic.

22 Jan 2021

Prioritizing older adults for COVID-19 vaccination will save more lives

Vaccinating older adults for COVID-19 first will save substantially more U.S. lives than prioritizing other age groups, and the slower the vaccine rollout and more widespread the virus, the more critical it is to bring them to the front of the line.

21 Jan 2021

New data on impact of spike mutations and B117 UK variant on neutralization by mAbs and sera

A recent paper by British and Dutch scientists, currently available on the bioRxiv* preprint server, shows that the neutralizing activity of monoclonal antibodies can be dramatically reduced by mutations of the SARS-CoV-2 spike glycoprotein – unlike polyclonal antibodies generated after natural infection that remain active regardless of any introduced amino acid changes.

21 Jan 2021

Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine shows reduced neutralization potential against SARS-CoV-2 B.1.1.7 spike variant

Researchers in the UK have conducted a study assessing the efficacy of the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine BNT162b2 against the new variant of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) – the agent that causes coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19).

21 Jan 2021