Vaccine News and Research

Latest Vaccine News and Research

Physical-distancing slows spread of COVID-19 and reduces ICU admissions

The world is now at a standstill, as many countries have imposed restrictions to stem the spread of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19). Nations are in lockdowns indefinitely, until the situation improves. The vast spread of the novel coronavirus is now inevitable, as the number of confirmed cases topped 1.85 million, many scientists are determining health measures that could help mitigate the global pandemic.

12 Apr 2020

Cats, ferrets more vulnerable to COVID-19 than dogs

A recent Chinese study published on the preprint server BioRxiv finds that cats and ferrets appear to be extremely vulnerable to the virus, but dogs, pigs, and poultry do not seem to contract it. As preprints, papers are not yet peer-reviewed, undergoing only basic scientific screening.

12 Apr 2020

Little to lose - time for everyone to wear face masks for COVID-19

The CDC says it's time to encourage everyone to wear cloth face masks as a precaution against the spread of the COVID-19 disease pandemic. "We have little to lose, and potentially something to gain," say researchers in linked pieces in the prestigious journal, The BMJ.

12 Apr 2020

New Vietnamese enterovirus C4 strains possibly more virulent than B5 strains

A new study published in January 2020 in the journal Scientific Reports reports the presence of a new lineage of enterovirus responsible for the hand-foot-and-mouth disease (HFMD). They think this could be more virulent than the earlier B5 subtype.

12 Apr 2020

Promising COVID-19 drug treatments identified with new screening strategies

As scientists across the world race to find a pharmacological cure for coronavirus disease (COVID-19), an international research group has analyzed more than 10 thousand different compounds and identified six potential candidates, publishing their results in the leading scientific journal Nature.

12 Apr 2020

Recovered South Korean COVID-19 patients test positive again

Following the reports from different countries of patients recovered from coronavirus disease (COVID-19) but testing positive again during the control diagnostic appraisal, South Korea's Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) documents a similar occurrence in 51 patients.

12 Apr 2020

UMSOM launches new initiative to expand COVID-19 testing

University of Maryland School of Medicine Dean E. Albert Reece, MD, PhD, MBA, announced today the launch of a large-scale COVID-19 Testing Initiative that will significantly expand testing capability over the coming weeks, enabled by new funding of $2.5 million from the State of Maryland.

12 Apr 2020

Vaccine skeptics may process information differently than people

In 2000, the measles virus was declared eliminated from the United States. Despite cases coming in from outside the country, there were few outbreaks because most people were vaccinated against measles. And then 2019 happened.

12 Apr 2020

Scientists make plant genome public to help combat COVID-19

Plant Nicotiana benthamiana is currently used as a bio-factory for several experimental vaccines against SARS-COV-2.

11 Apr 2020

Researchers design simple, cost-effective oxygen concentrators

The new virus is conquering the world. The more people who become infected with Sars-CoV-2, the more cases there will be in which severe illness will occur.

10 Apr 2020

Arizona COVID-19 Genomics Union to study how the virus may be evolving

The Translational Genomics Research Institute, an affiliate of City of Hope, The Pathogen and Microbiome Institute at Northern Arizona University, and the Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology at the University of Arizona have formed a union dedicated to tracking the COVID-19 coronavirus, it was announced today.

10 Apr 2020

Microneedle patches for potential COVID-19 vaccines or therapeutics

The COVID-19 pandemic is spreading over the world, causing panic and illness on a scale unprecedented in one hundred years. Even while the death toll nears 100,000, with over 1.5 million confirmed cases worldwide, public health experts and medical professionals are battling it using all the weapons available. Unfortunately, these are all too few.

9 Apr 2020

Testing One, Two, Three - Over 75% of people with COVID-19 are asymptomatic

A new study published in the British Medical Journal in April 2020 suggests that the number of people infected with severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) is astonishingly higher than the number of cases reported so far. This could help shape future social distancing measures.

9 Apr 2020

PIV5-based MERS vaccine shows promise for COVID-19

The coronavirus disease (COVID-19) has spread to 184 countries and territories. Currently, there is no vaccine available for COVID-19 disease, or SARS-CoV-2 infection. However, scientists around the world are racing to find ways to block the virus.

8 Apr 2020

Top NAU microbiologist joins Arizona COVID-19 Genomics Union

The Translational Genomics Research Institute, an affiliate of City of Hope, The Pathogen and Microbiome Institute at Northern Arizona University and the Ecology and Evolutionary Biology Department at the University of Arizona have formed a union dedicated to tracking the COVID-19 coronavirus, it was announced today.

8 Apr 2020

Philadelphia Eagles owner contributes $1 million to Penn Medicine to fight COVID-19 pandemic

Philadelphia Eagles owner Jeffrey Lurie today announced a $1 million contribution to Penn Medicine to establish the COVID-19 Immunology Defense Fund, laying the foundation for the world's foremost experts to fight the novel coronavirus pandemic.

8 Apr 2020

Air pollution and PM2.5 raise risk of COVID-19 death

According to a new analysis, air pollution is associated with more deaths in the currently raging COVID-19 pandemic. A new American study from researchers at Department of Biostatistics, Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, Boston, showed that a single unit increase in particle pollution levels in the air could raise the risk of death by 15 percent and that before this pandemic if the air was cleaner, it could have saved many lives.

8 Apr 2020

Study reveals the coronavirus camouflage that will aid vaccine design

Research led by the University of Southampton has revealed the fundamental features of the SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus that causes COVID19.

8 Apr 2020

Research uncovers risk factors associated with pneumococcal carriage in Fiji

New research has uncovered the risk factors for Fijians carrying a pneumonia-causing bacteria.

8 Apr 2020

New anti-COVID-19 system could potentially fight other viruses

The ongoing COVID-19 pandemic has sparked many research projects to meet the challenge of the virus and come up with measures to fight its activity. A new study published in the journal Cell Host & Microbe in April 2020 describes a novel system to help scientists understand the virus, including mutations, diagnose infections, and also to develop and evaluate vaccines more quickly.

8 Apr 2020