Vaccine News and Research

Latest Vaccine News and Research

First-of-its-kind synthetic DNA vaccine designed against Powassan virus

Scientists at The Wistar Institute have designed and tested the first-of-its-kind synthetic DNA vaccine against Powassan virus (POWV), targeting portions of the virus envelope protein.

30 Oct 2020

UIC enrolls people into phase 3 monoclonal antibody clinical trial

Researchers at the University of Illinois Chicago are now enrolling people into a phase 3 clinical trial that will test if a monoclonal antibody treatment -- administered as a series of four shots -- will help protect uninfected individuals from acquiring or getting sick from COVID-19 after someone in the household tests positive for COVID-19.

30 Oct 2020

Scientists develop new model of coronavirus diffusion through a community

The coronavirus doesn't spread uniformly through a community.But in the world of disease modeling, many projections take a high-level approach to a geographic area, like a county or state, and forecast based on a general idea that a virus will take root and spread at an equal rate until it reaches its peak of infection.

30 Oct 2020

Study: ICE detention centers experienced repeated outbreaks of vaccine-preventable illnesses

More than a dozen U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) detention centers experienced large, repeated outbreaks of vaccine-preventable illnesses in the last three years, according to a new study by researchers at UC San Francisco.

30 Oct 2020

Booster dose enhances immunogenicity of ChAdOx1 SARS-CoV-2 vaccine in aged mice

Now, a new study published on the pre-print server bioRxiv* shows that a single dose of the vaccine has induced cellular and humoral immunity in aged or older mice. A second dosage was needed to enhance the vaccine's immune response, showing that a prime-boost strategy may be an essential step to boost immunogenicity in the elderly.

30 Oct 2020

COVID-19 study: Researchers recruit frontline workers to identify asymptomatic individuals

Fifteen hundred frontline workers are being recruited for a yearlong study to find what percentage are positive for the virus that causes COVID-19, what percentage become positive and whether the antibodies they produce protect them from reinfection.

30 Oct 2020

UH and CWRU announce Phase 3 trial of Astrazeneca's investigational COVID-19 vaccine

University Hospitals and Case Western Reserve University announced today that UH Cleveland Medical Center has been selected as a clinical trial site for the Phase 3 global study of an investigational vaccine against SARS-CoV-2, sponsored by AstraZeneca.

29 Oct 2020

Remdesivir received FDA approval for treating COVID-19 patients: Benefits still not proven

The United States has become the epicenter of the world in the ever increasing pandemic of COVID-19. While public health prevention strategies of social distancing, crowd avoidance, masking and frequent hand washing are of proven benefit, effective drug therapies for treatment are sparse.

29 Oct 2020

New method could help increase effectiveness of vaccines against coronavirus

A University at Buffalo-led research team has discovered a technique that could help increase the effectiveness of vaccines against the novel coronavirus, the virus that causes COVID-19.

29 Oct 2020

Majority of people infected with mild-to-moderate COVID 19 mount robust antibody response

The vast majority of individuals infected with mild-to-moderate COVID 19 mount a robust antibody response that is relatively stable for at least five months, according to research conducted at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai and published October 28, in the journal Science.

29 Oct 2020

Study: COVID-19 vaccine nationalism could cost the global economy up to $1.2 trillion

Nationalistic behavior by governments may exclude some countries from gaining access to COVID-19 vaccines and cost the global economy up to $1.2 trillion a year in GDP, according to a new study from the not-for-profit research organization RAND Europe.

28 Oct 2020

Cognitive disorders associated with risk for developing severe COVID-19

Dementia and other cognitive disorders now appear to be risk factors for developing severe COVID-19, according to research from the University of Georgia. The findings highlight the need for special care for populations with these preexisting conditions during the pandemic.

28 Oct 2020

Readers and tweeters shed light on vaccine trials and bias in health care

In the piece about the AstraZeneca vaccine trial subject who suffered severe spinal cord inflammation, that person was repeatedly referred to as a "patient" ("NIH 'Very Concerned' About Serious Side Effect in Coronavirus Vaccine Trial," Sept. 14).

28 Oct 2020

Scientists warn Americans are expecting too much from a vaccine

The White House and many Americans have pinned their hopes for defeating the COVID-19 pandemic on a vaccine being developed at "warp speed." But some scientific experts warn they're all expecting too much, too soon.

28 Oct 2020

Researchers demonstrate potent antibody that fights against coronavirus

Scientists at Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center in Seattle have shown that a potent antibody from a COVID-19 survivor interferes with a key feature on the surface of the coronavirus's distinctive spikes and induces critical pieces of those spikes to break off in the process.

28 Oct 2020

Furin cleavage site and D614G on SARS-CoV-2 spike evolved to balance infectivity, stability, cytopathicity

SARS-CoV-2 is the causative agent of COVID-19 disease, currently raging across the world. The virus has now infected more than 43.89 million individuals and claimed over 1.16 million lives. The study titled, "Spike glycoprotein and host cell determinants of SARS-CoV-2 entry and cytopathic effects," is released on the preprint server bioRxiv* in October 2020.

27 Oct 2020

COVID vaccine misinformation lowering people's intent to get vaccinated

A new study by researchers at the Imperial College London and the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine aimed to determine how online misinformation impacts COVID-19 vaccine uptake intent. Further, the team wanted to identify socioeconomic groups at a higher risk of not getting vaccinated and those who are most susceptible to online misinformation.

27 Oct 2020