Tag: vaccines

BioNTech, Pfizer report progress in coronavirus vaccine trial

WASHINGTON, United States (AFP) — BioNTech of Germany and the US pharmaceutical giant Pfizer reported positive preliminary results on Wednesday from a joint project to develop a coronavirus vaccine. Known as BNT162b1, it produces antibody responses at or above the levels seen in any convalescent serum — blood from people who have recovered — at relatively low doses, according to BioNTech CEO Ugur Sahin. The preliminary data come from a so-called phase 1/2 trial that […]

S. Africa to start Africa’s first coronavirus vaccine pilot

by Sofia CHRISTENSEN JOHANNESBURG, South Africa (AFP) — South Africa will roll out the continent’s first coronavirus vaccine trial this week, the university leading the pilot said Tuesday, as the country grapples with the highest number of cases in Africa. The vaccine, developed by the Oxford Jenner Institute, is already being evaluated in Britain, where 4,000 participants have signed up for the trial. South Africa has set out to vaccinate 2,000 people with the vaccine […]

Sanofi expands US vaccine venture in COVID-19 race

PARIS, France (AFP) — French pharmaceutical giant Sanofi said Tuesday that it would invest $425 million to expand its vaccine development venture with US start-up Translate Bio as they aim to find a COVID-19 vaccine by next year. The companies have been working together since 2018, hoping to leverage Translate Bio’s work on new messenger RNA (mRNA) drugs that cause cells to create a specific protein for treating a range of diseases. Their work has […]

Scientists in China believe new drug can stop pandemic ‘without vaccine’

  by Qian Ye and Matthew Knight Agence France Presse BEIJING, China (AFP) — A Chinese laboratory has been developing a drug it believes has the power to bring the coronavirus pandemic to a halt. The outbreak first emerged in China late last year before spreading across the world, prompting an international race to find treatments and vaccines. A drug being tested by scientists at China’s prestigious Peking University could not only shorten the recovery […]

‘Don’t waste a minute’: Chinese firm readies mass vaccine production

by Patrick BAERT Agence France Presse BEIJING, China (AFP) — A researcher in a lab coat in Beijing holds up the hopes of humanity in his fingers: “Coronavac”, an experimental vaccine against the coronavirus that has upended the world. Sinovac Biotech, which is conducting one of the four clinical trials that have been authorized in China, has claimed great progress in its research and promising results among monkeys. While human trials have just started, the […]

South Asia faces fresh health crisis as children miss vaccinations

ISLAMABAD, Pakistan (AFP) — South Asia could face a further public health crisis as children miss routine vaccinations, the UN warned Tuesday, spurring fears that the fallout from the novel coronavirus pandemic might reverse hard-earned gains in the region. The United Nations children’s agency UNICEF said hundreds of thousands were at risk as lockdowns across South Asia halted immunization drives and parents refrained from taking their children to doctors to be inoculated. “While the COVID-19 […]

China approves trials for two more coronavirus vaccines

BEIJING, China (AFP) — China has approved clinical trials for two more experimental vaccines to combat the novel coronavirus, officials said Tuesday, as the world’s scientists race to beat the pandemic. The vaccines use inactivated coronavirus pathogens, and the approvals pave the way for early-stage human trials, Wu Yuanbin, an official from China’s Ministry of Science and Technology told a regular press briefing. China’s state food and drug administration on Monday approved one vaccine developed […]

Coronavirus drugs: Who’s doing what, and when they might come

by Issam AHMED WASHINGTON, United States (AFP) — Pharmaceuticals and research labs across the world are racing to find vaccines and treatments for the new coronavirus, using a variety of different technologies. According to Benjamin Neuman, a virologist at Texas A&M University-Texarkana, immunizing against the pathogen is a long shot: There has never been a very successful human vaccine against any member of the coronavirus family. “This is going to be a lot of trials, […]

Japan launches human trial of new Ebola vaccine

  TOKYO, Japan (AFP) — Japanese scientists will begin the country’s first human trial for a new vaccine against the deadly Ebola virus this month, they said Friday. The vaccine, which has previously been tested in monkeys, uses an inactivated form of the virus that can only effectively replicate in artificial cells. Scientists hope that will make it safer than other treatments, the Institute of Medical Science at the University of Tokyo said in a […]

Researchers move closer to new vaccine for killer TB

  by Glenda KWEK Agence France Presse HYDERABAD, India (AFP) — Scientists said Tuesday they are closing in on a new game-changing vaccine for tuberculosis, the world’s deadliest infectious disease that claimed some 1.5 million lives last year. A chronic lung disease that is curable, TB was one of the top 10 killers worldwide last year, particularly in developing countries. The existing Bacille-Calmette-Guerin (BCG) vaccine — licensed for humans in 1921 — is only proven […]

Manila Health Dep’t appeals to parents to have their kids vaccinated after confirming diphtheria death

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4tLZggos9NQ&feature=youtu.be   (Eagle News) – The Manila Health Department again appealed to the public to have their children, specially babies, vaccinated in health centers following the death of a 10-year old elementary student due to diphtheria. The death of a Grade 4 student studying at the Zamora Elementary School also prompted health officials to conduct prophylactic treatment for students who had contact with the victim. The victim first complained of fever and sore throat while […]

Vaccines: Trends, mistrust and consequences

by Paul RICARD PARIS, France (AFP) — Vaccines have saved tens of millions of lives but immunization rates have stagnated in recent years due in part to fake news stories claiming vaccinations can cause measles, autism or sterility. Here are some key facts about vaccinations: Trends  Immunization prevents two to three million deaths every year, and could prevent another 1.5 million if vaccination programs were fully implemented. But vaccination rates have “dangerously” stalled, according to […]