Pfizer and BioNTech said they have concluded phase 3 study of their mRNA-based COVID-19 vaccine candidate BNT162b2, meeting all primary efficacy endpoints.
While bats are the ancestral hosts to many deadly viruses affecting humans such as Ebola, rabies, and the novel coronavirus, SARS-CoV-2, the flying mammals themselves tolerate these pathogens without ill effects
"Out of an abundance of caution, and at the recommendation of his physician and medical experts, the president will be working from the presidential offices at Walter Reed for the next few days," White House Press Secretary Kayleigh McEnany said on Friday, a day after he was tested positive for COVID-19.
Calling vaccination an exercise in "preparedness and prevention", the vaccinologist said the immune response that is made has nothing to fight immediately but "we train the immune system to recognise the virus if and when it comes".
"The Indian Medical Association has requested all its 3.5 lakh members in 1,800 local branches to voluntarily come out to get vaccinated first to show the world that these vaccines are safe and efficacious," it said.
The new vaccine candidate, DIOS-CoVax2, uses banks of genetic sequences of all known coronaviruses, including those from bats, believed to be the natural hosts of many relatives of human coronaviruses.
COVAXIN, developed by Hyderabad-based Bharat Biotech in collaboration with Indian Council of Medical Research and National Institute of Virology, has got the nod for human clinical trials from the Drug Controller General of India
Thackeray directed officials to ensure that people follow health norms like wearing masks, and that violators be fined.
To keep up with the COVID guidelines, the site has imprinted norms saying not more than 5,000 visitors are allowed in a day. Also, group photographs are not at all encouraged. Guards are keeping strict vigil so that tourists do not touch the railing and walls of the monument and used tissue paper, mask, gloves shoe covers are dumped in the dustbin.
A combination of robust vaccination programmes and strict physical distancing rules may be enough to prevent recurring peaks of COVID-19 without greatly restricting the mobility of people, according to a modelling study.
'There are only two bottlenecks for universal vaccination.' 'One, is availability of the vaccine.' 'Two, is the logistics for administering the vaccine.'
Once the UK drug regulator gives its approval to the Oxford vaccine, the expert committee on COVID-19 at the Central Drugs Standard Control Organisation (CDSCO) will hold its meeting and thoroughly review the safety and immunogenicity data from the clinical evaluations conducted abroad and in India before granting any emergency authorisation for the vaccine here, official sources said.
The government on Wednesday issued new guidelines for international arrivals amid the spread of mutant variants of coronavirus in many countries.
The bouquet of Covid-19 tests that most diagnostic labs are offering include antibody tests (blood tests), rapid antigen tests (point of care tests that detect the presence of an antigen from a nasal or throat swab in case of SARS-CoV-2), and reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) tests.
'There are not enough RT-PCR tests and they take a long time to do in specialised centres. So the world is using RA tests for the same reason that India is using them, and with similar somewhat spuriously comforting rationale'
8 Asiatic lions in the zoo in have tested positive for COVID-19 after their saliva samples were thoroughly examined by CSIR-Centre for Cellular and Molecular Biology in Hyderabad, Rakesh Mishra, advisor of the premier research institute said.
"Lockdown and containment (measures) have been successful in keeping it low and preventing rapid spread," ICMR Director General Balram Bhargava said, citing the sero-survey on COVID-19 spread.
However, Covid infection can spread faster during the third wave if any new virulent variant of SARS-CoV-2 emerges, said Manindra Agarwal who is working with the Sutra Model -- the mathematical projection of the COVID-19 trajectory.
'The prioritisation of groups for COVID-19 vaccine shall be based on two key considerations -- occupational hazard and risk of exposure to infection, and the risk of developing severe disease and increased mortality'
The experts said there is a need to relook at the testing strategy in a way that it results in guiding the public health response and effectively limiting the spread of the disease.
Mohabbat Singh was administered a cocktail of Casirivimab and Imdevimab at the Medanta Hospital as part of the "single dose infusion-based treatment" on Tuesday and then kept under observation.
The Reproduction number or Rt refers to how many people an infected person infects on average. In other words, it can tell how efficiently a virus is spreading.
'People are just putting the mask below their nose.' 'They are only protecting the mouth, but not the nose.' 'People need to understand that it is the nose which has to be protected.'
Illustrious international thinkers met at the Milken Institute Global Conference 2021 and many discussions addressed the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the world at large.
It said clinical trials of the drug 2-deoxy-D-glucose (2-DG) showed that it helps in faster recovery of hospitalised patients and reduces supplemental oxygen dependence.
Many companies globally are working on plasma research to develop and manufacture hyperimmune globulin therapies from plasma donations.
Commercial launch and supply to major government and private hospitals is expected in mid-June.
'Mortality or hospitalisation has not increased in South Africa because of the new variant.' 'There is nothing to show so far that it is more infectious.' 'I am of the opinion that at the moment, there is no reason to panic.'
In its daily situation report, the WHO said there is no evidence that the BCG vaccine protects people against COVID-19.
There is so far no evidence that the second wave of COVID-19 in the country is due to variants of the virus, but it is possible, said noted virologist Shahid Jameel.
Bharat Biotech, Serum Institute, Zydus Cadila, Panacea Biotec, Indian Immunologicals, Mynvax and Biological E are among the domestic pharma firms working on the coronavirus vaccines in India.
'We believe that India is capable of producing the Gamaleya vaccine and it is very important to say that those partnerships to produce the vaccine will enable us to cover the demand that we have'
A notice issued to the foreign journalists on Wednesday said they can get the Inactivated SARS-CoV-2 Vaccine, developed by Sinopharm's China National Biotec Group. Sinopharm's COVID-19 vaccine has been granted conditional market approval by China's National Medical Products Administration.
Satish Kumar Bhat, 47 from Delhi shared some suggestions that he feels may help fight coronavirus.
The researchers, working in an 'unprecedented' vaccine development effort to prevent COVID-19, said they have started screening healthy volunteers (aged 18-55) from Friday for their upcoming trial in the Thames Valley Region of England.
"Keeping a close pace with the potential availability of vaccine, a plan of action on which sections are to be given priority has been discussed. Importantly, it would be monitored through a scientific approach," Dr Harsh Vardhan told ANI about the strategy being discussed on vaccine distribution.
Neutralising antibodies are important in potentially protecting a person from re-infection of the same virus.
The fact sheet also asked people to inform the vaccinator or a supervising official about their medical condition before taking the vaccine.
Khan, 67, agreed for the test after Faisal Edhi, the son of late philanthropist Abdul Sattar Edhi and chairman of the Edhi Foundation, who met him last week tested positive for the coronavirus.
Named after 'Feluda', the detective character in legendary filmmaker Satyajit Ray's stories, the test has been developed by Debojyoti Chakraborty and Souvik Maiti as a simpler way of detecting SARS-coV2 presence in clinical samples, IGIB Director Anurag Agarwal said.
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