OMAHA, Neb. (WOWT) It has the potential to be a perfect storm; thousands of protesters gathering amid a pandemic and now the push is on to make sure those fighting for racial justice can get tested for COVID-19.
The goal is to see the protests continue while also quelling the spread of coronavirus and testing is going to be key.
We believe that there may be an uptick in positives so we want the community to come out, to know their status, said Kenny McMorris, CEO of the Charles Drew Health Center.
Charles Drew may be the only option for testing for some protesters. Douglas County Health is encouraging people to sign-up for Test Nebraska. 6 News reporter Tara Campbell, whos been in the middle of the protests, went ahead and tried signing up this morning but was denied.
At Charles Drew its a different story, symptoms or not -- you can get tested and they want to see more people.
We have the ability to test far more people than were doing, said McMorris. We have the capacity to test about 120 or 125 people a day.
Over at the Malcolm X Memorial Foundation Center, where hundreds of protesters have gathered, its all hands on deck to spread the message.
If were going to keep marching, if were going to have rallies than the first thing we need is to encourage everyone to be safe, said Paul Allen, Program Director, Mind & Soul 101.3 FM.
The station, which is housed in the basement of the Malcolm X Center, is using the airwaves to encourage protesters to get tested so they can keep up the fight.
This is a significant time in our country right now, said McMorris. So we want to take this moment and make sure everyone is getting out there and getting heard, but all the while you still have to remember were in the middle of a pandemic.
6 News asked Governor Pete Ricketts' office if they plan to open up Test Nebraska to more protesters. We were told recent large gatherings were taken into consideration when announcing some changes to Test Nebraska last week and that they expect Test Nebraska to be available everyone in the near future.
If you would like to call to make an appointment for the drive-through COVID-19 at Charles Drew, call 402-451-3553.
FILE PHOTO: Empty street is seen near Lincoln tunnel in Manhattan borough following the outbreak of coronavirus disease (COVID-19), in New York City, U.S., March 15, 2020. REUTERS/Jeenah Moon/File Photo
(Reuters) - University of Washington researchers estimated on Monday that 145,728 people could die of COVID-19 in the United States by August, raising their grim forecast by more than 5,000 fatalities in a matter of days.
On Friday, the widely cited Institute for Health Metrics and evaluation at the university projected 140,496 deaths by August from COVID-19, the respiratory illness caused by the coronavirus. Researchers did not give a reason for the abrupt revision.
The new estimate came on the same day that Texas reported its highest number of hospitalizations so far in the pandemic and 22 U.S. states showed at least a small uptick in the number of new confirmed cases, according to a count kept by Johns Hopkins University.
Among the states with the sharpest increases were Michigan and Arizona, according to Johns Hopkins, while Virginia, Rhode Island and Nebraska showed the greatest decreases.
Infectious disease experts have said that large street protests held in major U.S. cities after the death of a black man, George Floyd, in Minneapolis police custody, could touch off a new outbreak of the disease.
A total of more than 1.9 million cases of COVID-19, the respiratory illness caused by the coronavirus, have been reported in the United States, according to a Reuters tally, which has confirmed 110,000 deaths.
Reporting by Dan Whitcomb; Editing by Muralikumar Anantharaman and Leslie Adler
The Brazilian government has been accused of totalitarianism and censorship after it stopped releasing its total numbers of Covid-19 cases and deaths and wiped anofficial siteclean of swaths of data.
Health ministry insiders told local media the move was ordered by far-right president, Jair Bolsonaro, himself and was met with widespread outrage in Brazil, one of the worlds worst-hit Covid-19 hotspots, with more deaths than Italy and more cases than Russia and the UK.
The authoritarian, insensitive, inhuman and unethical attempt to make those killed by Covid-19 invisible will not succeed. We and Brazilian society will not forget them, nor the tragedy that befalls the nation, said Alberto Beltrame, president of Brazilsnational councilof state health secretaries, in a statement.
Brazil currently has the worlds second-highest number of cases, at 672,846, according to theJohns Hopkins universitysite, and has overtaken Italy, with 35,930 deaths. Johns HopkinsremovedBrazil from its global count on Saturday but later reinstated it.
On Friday night, Brazils government stopped releasing the cumulative numbers of confirmed Covid-19 cases and obits in its daily bulletin and only supplied daily numbers. A health ministry site was taken offline and returned on Saturday without the total number of deaths and confirmed cases, as well as numbers of cases under investigation and those that recovered. The death counts were reported as 904 on Saturday, 1,005 on Friday and 1,473 on Thursday.
The move was widely criticised across Brazilian society, with doctors, medical associations and state governors attacking what they called an attempt to control information. Federal prosecutors announced an investigation on Saturday and gave the interim health minister 72 hours to explain the move, using the Brazilian constitution and freedom of information law asjustification.
The manipulation of statistics is a manoeuvre of totalitarian regimes,tweetedGilmar Mendes, a supreme court judge. The trick will not exempt responsibility for the eventual genocide. Rodrigo Maia, speaker of the lower house of Congress,calledfor the data to be replaced for transparency.
You cant face a pandemic without science, transparency and action, Paulo Cmara, governor of the north-eastern state of Pernambuco, posted onInstagram. Manipulation, omission and disrespect are the striking marks of authoritarian administrations. But this wont destroy the effort of the whole nation. We will continue producing, systematising and releasing the data.
Moves to control Covid-19 numbers began earlier in the week. On Wednesday, the ministry pushed back the release of its daily bulletin from 7pm to 10pm, after the nightly television news. Thats the end of Jornal Nacional reports, Bolsonaro saidon Friday, referring to Brazils biggest TV news programme.
The data was adapted because it did not portray the moment the country is in, tweeted the president, who has flouted isolation measures, dismissing the disease as a little flu and shrugging off Brazils rising death toll because, he said, death was everybodys destiny.
Health ministry technicians told BrasliasCorreioBraziliense that Bolsonaro freaked out and blamed the president for the decision to misrepresent the numbers.
The country currently has nohealth minister, having lost two since the pandemic began. The acting health minister, Eduardo Pazuello, is an army general with no health experience who has stuffed the ministry with military officers.
On Friday, Carlos Wizard, a billionaire Mormon businessman with no health experience who is taking over as secretary of science, technology and strategic supplies at the health ministry, called the current data fanciful or manipulated.
There are many people dying for other causes and public managers, purely interested in having bigger budgets for their towns, their states, were putting everybody as Covid. We are revising these obits, he told theO Globonewspaper. In fact,health specialistshave argued that there is widespread under-reporting of cases and deaths in Brazil, in part due to a lack of testing.
Only someone who does not know the public health system could make this statement, Andr Longo, health secretary of Pernambuco state, told the Guardian. It stains the history of Brazilian public health.
Doctors across Brazil said the lack of information would hinder management of the pandemic as cases moved from big cities into its vast interior. How is a manager going to reallocate resources and organise vacancies and transporting the sick if they dont have data? said Guilherme Pivoto, an infectious diseases specialist in Manaus, one of Brazils worst-hit cities.
Pressure on hospitals in big cities like Manaus, Fortaleza and Rio de Janeiro has eased and states like So Paulo and Rio de Janeiro have begun slowly allowing shops and businesses to reopen.
But managing that transition requires accurate and clear information, said Alberto Chebabo, an infectious diseases specialist at Rio de Janeiros Federal University hospital and vice-president of the Brazilian Society of Infectious Diseases.
We have room in intensive care but the hospital still has many patients, he said. Many decisions are taken on basis of these numbers not just in Brazil, but in whole world It is an inadmissible lack of transparency.
When Dr. Anthony Fauci speaks, people listen. Thedirector of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) quickly became a top spokesperson for the U.S. effort to fight the COVID pandemic earlier this year.
There's one company that Fauci has singled out among the several that are developing COVID-19 vaccine candidates. That drugmaker isModerna (NASDAQ:MRNA).
And when The New York Times reported a few days ago that the Trump administration has picked five COVID-19 vaccines to receive substantial financial support of the U.S. government, there was one company mentioned first. You guessed it... Moderna.
Is Moderna really the de facto leader in the COVID-19 vaccine race? It's complicated.
Image source: Getty Images.
On March 16, Moderna became the first to begin a phase 1 clinical study evaluating a COVID-19 vaccine candidate in humans. But it was followed a week later by Chinese drugmaker CanSino Bio.
Inovio wasn't too far behind. The clinical-stage biotech began a phase 1 study of its experimental COVID-19 vaccine on April 6.
The University of Oxford dosed the first patients in a phase 1 study of its COVID-19 vaccine candidate on April 23. By the end of April, big British drugmakerAstraZeneca (NYSE:AZN) announced that it was partnering with Oxford on the development and commercialization of the vaccine.
Pfizer (NYSE:PFE) and its partner, BioNTech (NASDAQ:BNTX), weren't far behind. The two companies kicked off the phase 1 portion of a phase 1/2 clinical study of a COVID-19 vaccine candidate initially developed by BioNTech on May 5.
Novavax (NASDAQ:NVAX) jumped into the race on May 25. The clinical-stage biotech also initiated the phase 1 part of a phase 1/2 clinical study.
Others are in hot pursuit. Johnson & Johnsonexpects to begin a clinical study of its COVID-19 vaccine candidate by September. Merck, Sanofi, and GlaxoSmithKline are gearing up to begin clinical testing of their experimental vaccines.
Although Moderna was the first to begin clinical testing of a COVID-19 vaccine candidate, is it still in first place? That's a tough call. It's definitely a neck-and-neck race.
Moderna expects to begin a phase 3 study of its COVID-19 vaccine in July. But Chinese drugmaker CanSino could begin its late-stage study around the same time.
The AstraZeneca-Oxford team is certainly in the running for the lead position as well. The partners began enrolling for a phase 2/3 clinical study in late May. They haven't stated exactly when the clinical trials will wrap up because of the uncertainty about how long it will take for some participants to develop COVID-19. Results could be available within two months of the study kick-off or up to six months.
Image source: Getty Images.
It's pretty easy to compare the timelines of each of the companies developing COVID-19 vaccine candidates. What's much harder is to try to determine which of these vaccines have the best chance of success.
The White House chose the vaccines being developed by Moderna, AstraZeneca-Oxford, Pfizer-BioNTech, J&J, and Merck as the most promising candidates. Does this mean that these vaccines are truly the most likely to be successful? Not necessarily. For one thing, it's a mystery why the Trump administration picked J&J and Merck over others that are farther along (namely, Novavax and Inovio).
Another organization that's trying to identify the COVID-19 vaccine candidates with the most promise is theCoalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations (CEPI). The nonprofit organization was founded by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, the governments of India and Norway, the Wellcome Trust, and the World Economic Forum. It's also funded by other governments across the world as well as by private sector companies.
CEPI has funded several COVID-19 vaccine candidates so far. But the organization has invested the heaviest in the vaccines being developed by Novavax and AstraZeneca.
At least when it comes to the COVID-19 vaccine race, referring to Moderna (or any other company) as the leader is probably premature. "The" is a tricky three-letter word in this case. It's better to instead to view Moderna as a leader in the development of a COVID-19 vaccine.
But we should also view several others as leaders in developing COVID-19 vaccines. I'd put AstraZeneca and the University of Oxford, CanSino Bio, and Novavax on the list for sure. And I wouldn't rule out the Pfizer-BioNTech partnership or Inovio.
What about J&J, Merck, Sanofi, and GlaxoSmithKline? These big pharmaceutical companies certainly have considerable vaccine expertise and the financial resources to quickly advance their COVID-19 vaccine candidates. Because none of them have begun clinical trials yet, I'd be hesitant to refer to them as leaders at this point. However, that could change in the near future.
I fully expect that there will eventually be multiple vaccines that prove to be safe and effective. Moderna is getting the most attention right now, but my view is that the biotech will have to share the limelight.
BEIJING (Reuters) - China will strengthen international cooperation in future COVID-19 clinical vaccine trials, building on earlier collaboration in vaccine development, the science and technology minister said on Sunday.
Chinese Science and Technology Minister Wang Zhigang attends the State Council Information Office (SCIO) briefing on the white paper about China's fight against the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) in Beijing, China June 7, 2020. REUTERS/Florence Lo
China is expending great efforts in the global scramble to develop a vaccine for the new coronaries epidemic that began in its central city of Wuhan, with Chinese researchers conducting five separate clinical trials on humans, or half of all such trials globally, according to the data compiled by the World Health Organization.
President Xi Jinping vowed last month at the World Heath Assembly, the WHOs governing body, that vaccines Chinas develops will become a global public good once they are ready for use, and it will be Chinas contribution to ensuring vaccine accessibility and affordability in developing countries.
Developing a vaccine is still the fundamental strategy in our effort to overcome the new coronavirus, Science and Technology Minister Wang Zhigang told a news conference in Beijing.
But vaccine development is very difficult and takes time, he said, when asked how China would initially prioritise shots by country when a vaccine is found.
The rigour of vaccine development has been compared by some scientists to a dance involving precise steps and rehearsals, Wang said.
In a white paper unveiled by the State Council Information Office at the news conference, the government urges global cooperation, saying the international community should resist finger-pointing and politicising the virus. It did not name any country.
U.S. President Donald Trumps administration has accused China of cover-ups and lack of transparency regarding the pandemic. Beijing has repeatedly denied the allegations, saying it has been keeping the world informed from the start.
The head of the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention briefed his U.S. counterpart by phone on the then-unknown virus as early as Jan. 4, according to the white paper.
In the white paper, the Chinese government said the medical cost of all the coronavirus patients in China totalled 1.35 billion yuan ($191 million) as of the end of May.
President Xi last month pledged $2 billion in financial support over the next two years to help deal with COVID-19, especially to help developing countries.
Reporting by Ryan Woo, Lusha Zhang and Roxanne Liu; Editing by Robert Birsel and William Mallard
BuzzFeed News; Getty Images
The first COVID-19 vaccine likely wont be effective enough to end the global pandemic, vaccine experts say. Instead, we may live with the virus for years before a winning one emerges.
In July, the first large-scale human trial of two coronavirus vaccine candidates will start, according to US health officials, who are sounding increasingly confident that some kind of vaccine will be ready to be distributed widely by December.
I'm cautiously optimistic that with the multiple candidates that we have with different platforms that we're gonna have a vaccine, said National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases chief Anthony Fauci, speaking on Tuesday at a briefing held by the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA). He predicted that nearly 100 million doses of a successful vaccine would be available by November or December, and perhaps 200 million doses by the beginning of 2021, largely due to taxpayer and philanthropic investments in factories that will be built to manufacture the massive quantity of vaccines.
The White Houses Operation Warp Speed is expected to name five companies Moderna, AstraZeneca, Johnson & Johnson, Merck, and Pfizer to lead the vaccine effort in the US, according to the New York Times.
Vaccines essentially imitate an infection without getting you sick training your immune system to quickly produce antibodies to repel a real attack. The biggest hope for a vaccine came after a May study showed that nearly everyone who recovers from COVID-19 produces antibodies to the coronavirus, also called SARS-CoV-2, meaning that the virus can be fought with vaccination. That's a pretty good proof of concept to say that you're going to make an immune response in response to a vaccine, said Fauci.
But what makes a successful vaccine? The first ones to emerge from the 10 candidates now being tested in people worldwide are likely to resemble the seasonal flu shot. These vaccines need to be administered year after year and are sometimes only around 30% effective at blocking an infection, while at the same time promising milder symptoms to people who do get sick. Thats in stark contrast to other vaccines, like the one for measles, where two shots confer immunity for a lifetime.
When people talk about the race for the COVID-19 vaccine, I have to say, Be careful what you wish for, said vaccinologist Peter Hotez of the Baylor College of Medicine. History tells us that the first ones have a built-in obsolescence.
Heres what our vaccine future might look like:
Along with the 10 SARS-CoV-2 vaccines now in human trials, more than 120 others are under study in test tubes and lab animals, according to the World Health Organization. Each one aims to, hopefully, produce enough of the right neutralizing antibodies to prevent future infections. The trials take two groups of study volunteers, randomly picked to either get a real vaccine or a placebo, and then measure for differences in how many people get infected or have severe symptoms.
Broadly speaking, the candidates work by four methods, only two of which have long been proven to work in past vaccines. The first is to give people a weakened or killed form of an actual virus, used in polio, chicken pox, and flu vaccines. The second proven way is to just inject a small fragment of the virus to trigger immune readiness, like the HPV vaccine or newer flu vaccines.
A third cutting-edge approach is under study by AstraZeneca and the University of Oxford, whose vaccine is expected to enter a large human trial in July. It works by taking a chimpanzee virus and coating it with the tiny spikes that cover the surface of SARS-CoV-2. The chimp virus causes a harmless infection in humans, but the spike proteins will prime the immune system to recognize signs of a future SARS-CoV-2 invasion.
That's in theory. There isn't a guarantee ever that you're going to get an effective vaccine, said Fauci. The US Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority has provided more than $1 billion for the Oxford vaccines development, and AstraZeneca has announced a plan to test the candidate in more than 10,000 people in the United Kingdom. But in early data, the vaccine has underwhelmed observers, who noted it didnt prevent infections in monkeys, just lessened their symptoms. William Haseltine, a former Harvard Medical School professor known for pivotal research on cancer and HIV, noted the neutralizing antibodies produced by the vaccines were extremely low, in Forbes.
Time will tell if this is the best approach, Haseltine concluded. I wouldnt bet on it.
The fourth approach is a genetic vaccine, where only the genes that cells need to produce the coronavirus spike are injected into a person. Those spike proteins, dutifully produced by cells in response to the genes, alarm the immune system and should produce immunity.
One genetic vaccine thats emerged as a Wall Street favorite is being developed by a company called Moderna. Expected to begin large-scale human trials by July under Operation Warp Speed, the company has dismayed scientists by only releasing press releases with sparse data on its small safety experiments in people, feeding hype about its vaccine candidate.
Jennifer Haller, left, is given the first shot in the first-stage safety study of a potential vaccine for COVID-19 by Moderna.
The only vaccine that has published strong results albeit only in monkeys and other lab animals is from Chinas Sinovac biotech firm, which relied on the old-fashioned method of injecting a small amount of dead viruses to prime the immune system against a real infection. Thats an old-school vaccine, said Hotez. We do know those work.
Without the full data measuring the effects of the vaccines in people, however, outside experts tend to be skeptical of their ability to prevent an infection. Vaccine experts prefer candidates to be at least 70% effective at preventing infections, Paul Offit of Childrens Hospital of Philadelphia said at a separate JAMA briefing on Monday. Still, even if the vaccine only lessens the severity of a deadly disease, he added, that would be great, because it keeps you out of the hospital, it keeps you from dying.
The two Operation Warp Speed candidates will begin human trials in 30,000 people in the first week of July, Fauci said. In these trials, happening largely in the US but also overseas, some volunteers will randomly receive an inoculation and others will receive a placebo. These studies are at the mercy of the size of the outbreak where they take place, because you need enough people in the placebo group to become infected to know the vaccine is working.
If the trial locations dont have a high rate of infections, it could take months and months and months to get an answer, said Fauci. On the other hand, if the trials take place amid a big surge in cases, you could get your answer pretty quickly.
With infections continuing but not spiking nationwide, likely due to people continuing to follow physical distancing measures, theres a real concern that the clinical trials could stretch out for months. If this happens, typically trials have to add more participants, causing delays. A 2006 rotavirus vaccine trial in 40,000 children grew to more than 70,0000 for that reason, said Offit, and stretched out for more than three years. It's hard to study something that doesn't happen.
That might easily delay a vaccine past December. Ken Frazier, the CEO of Merck, one of the firms reportedly selected for the Warp Speed trials, told the Financial Times in May that the 12- to 18-month timeline the program called for was very aggressive and set an unrealistic standard for his company.
Even when researchers have an answer, Offit added that he would be surprised if a SARS-CoV-2 vaccine is ever much more than 70% effective at stopping infections. Thats because of the short incubation time that respiratory illnesses, like the flu or COVID-19, give even a prepared immune system to ramp up defenses and release antibodies. It takes four to five days for people exposed to the coronavirus to begin to develop symptoms. In contrast, measles has an incubation time of 10 to 12 days, part of what makes the measles vaccine 97% effective for a lifetime after just two doses.
Fauci also worries that people will need somewhat frequent coronavirus vaccine booster shots, noting that immune system antibodies tend to wane after an infection with the four everyday coronaviruses that cause around 20% of common colds. Hotez was less concerned about this, arguing the immune system should still retain a memory of spike proteins, through other immune cells that can last in the body for decades. But he acknowledged that it still needs to be studied, given that SARS-CoV-2 has only been known to scientists for six months.
We're going to have to manage expectations, said Offit. Vaccinating 20,000 people in a clinical trial is not the same as vaccinating 200 million people. Rare side effects may only emerge after those millions of people take the vaccine, he said. The duration of immunity will probably only be revealed after the vaccines are widely used.
The expectation is that healthcare workers, older people in nursing homes, and others most at risk for infection would be first in line for vaccines, Fauci told BuzzFeed News in February.
The way the coronavirus vaccines will roll out might resemble the history of the polio vaccine, where new generations of inoculations were steadily released over decades. In another historical similarity, the March of Dimes paid five firms to mass produce the first Salk polio vaccine in 1954, before it was even proven effective in April 1955, after field trials involving more than 1.8 million children. The 1955 polio vaccine was judged 80% to 90% effective, while today three doses are 99% to 100% effective.
Technicians in Toronto harvest the virus to be used in the polio vaccine developed by Dr Jonas Salk of the University of Pittsburgh, April 13, 1955.
Another concern is about who is seen as leading the US vaccine effort. The CDC, which typically manages the countrys vaccine programs, has taken a backseat in the response to the pandemic and has stayed largely silent on the subject of a coronavirus vaccine. The secrecy surrounding Operation Warp Speed plays into the hands of an anti-vaccination movement premised on conspiracy theories about doctors, the government, and pharmaceutical firms, said Hotez.
Its a real worry: In a May poll, less than half of Americans said they would take a COVID-19 vaccine, with 20% saying they would reject one altogether.
It should be the CDC managing the vaccine roll out, with the nation's public health agencies in every state, said Hotez.
Typically vaccines undergo a 10-month review process from the FDA, or a shorter 6-month one for expedited reviews. But because the vaccine is urgently needed, it may be rushed out even more quickly making some experts concerned we could end up prioritizing speed over finding the best vaccine possible. The FDA has already drawn scrutiny for emergency authorizations for experimental drugs of uncertain benefit, blood tests with low accuracy, and a CDC diagnostic test that didnt work for most states.
A final vaccine worry is whether as the November election approaches, the Trump administration might spring a vaccine that hasnt completed its clinical trial on the public as an October surprise, said Offit. The result could be a permanent disaster for public confidence in vaccines, especially if the FDA goes along with such a move under pressure from the White House, as some are arguing the agency did with the malaria drugs used to treat COVID-19. That would be a tragedy, he said.
I think there's every reason that vaccines are going to be the hero of this story, said Offit. But we have to attend to the science, and we have to be humble.
The National Institutes of Health, meanwhile, plans to test the leading COVID-19 vaccine candidates on tens of thousands of people to determine efficacy and safety. NIH Director Dr. Francis Collins told AP, Definitely the worst thing that could happen is if we rush through a vaccine that turns out to have significant side effects.
Another factor that may contribute to this middling response to a vaccine is that several generations of Americans have grown up without potentially fatal diseases, because vaccines wiped them out. Columnist Clarence Page touched on this recently. He recalled lining up in grade school to get a polio shot not long after its approval in 1955.
Polio haunted our lives then, Page wrote. When I was in kindergarten in 1952, more than 57,000 children were stricken with the disease and thousands died in one of the worst polio epidemics in American history.
Everybody knew somebody who had to wear heavy leg braces or use an iron lung machine just to breathe because of the paralyzing disease.
(Story continued below...)
Health experts say that if our society is to return to what it was pre-coronavirus, a COVID-19 vaccine is a must. So too will be persuading many Americans to roll up their sleeves.
Billionaire Bill Gates has become a top target of conspiracy theories related to the coronavirus pandemic, which the Microsoft co-founder called "bizarre."
"It's almost hard to deny this stuff because it's so stupid or strange that even to repeat it gives it credibility," Gates saidThursday on phone call announcing The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation's $1.6 billion pledge to global vaccine alliance Gavi, according to Business Insider.
Since the start of the global pandemic, Gates has been the subject of conspiracies falsely linking him to the coronavirus' origins in some way or another. In fact aYahoo News/YouGov survey in May found that 28% of U.S. adults believed adebunked conspiracy theory suggesting Gates planned to use an eventual Covid-19 vaccine to implant monitoring microchips in billions of people.
"In a way, it's so bizarre you almost want to see it as something humorous but it's really not a humorous thing," Gates said, according to Business Insider.
"I've never been involved in any microchip type thing," Gates said, according to Wired."It is good to know which kids have had a measles vaccine and which have not, so there are data systems and health records that people use to track that but there's no chips or anything like that."
Gates called the survey "a little bit concerning," according to Wired, and added that widespread conspiracies could ultimately be dangerous if they discourage large groups of people from getting vaccinated against the disease. (Health officials have expressed concerns that misinformation could contribute to low adoption rates for a Covid-19 vaccine, once it is developed, which could make it more difficult to achieve herd immunity.)
"If you don't get a broad uptake [of the vaccine], then it wouldn't have the dramatic effect you want to have [where] the risk of reintroduction is so low that you can go back to having things like big sports events," Gates said Thursday, according to BGR. "The misinformation could hold us back at some point, but I wouldn't say that that's hurting us at this stage."
In April, Mark Suzman, chief executive of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, responded to reports on conspiracy theories circulating about Gates, saying it is "distressing that there are people spreading misinformation when we should all be looking for ways to collaborate and save lives."
Gates has been particularly outspoken with regard to the global pandemic and the varied responses by world leaders. For instance, in March, Gates criticized the U.S. government's response to the pandemic, claiming that "we did not act fast enough to have an ability to avoid the shutdown."
Gates also called President Donald Trump's decision to defund the World Health Organization (WHO) "as dangerous as it sounds" and the billionaire added on Thursday that he's hopeful the president will rethink his recent threats to withdraw the U.S. from WHO altogether.
Meanwhile, in addition to this week's Gavi pledge, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundationalready committedmore than $300 millionto help fund the development of coronavirus treatments and vaccines in recent months.
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PALM BEACH, Florida,June 3, 2020/PRNewswire/ Rapid development of a vaccine to prevent the global health crisis is a global imperative, and defining the stakes and potential hurdles is critical because regulatory and medical decisions are based on benefit/risk calculations. The benefit of developing an effective vaccine is very high, and even greater if it can be deployed in time to prevent repeated or continuous epidemics. A recentarticlein the NEW ENGLAND JOURNAL of Medicine said: The need to rapidly develop a vaccine against SARS-CoV-2 comes at a time of explosion in basic scientific understanding, including in areas such as genomics and structural biology, that is supporting a new era in vaccine development. Over the past decade, the scientific community and the vaccine industry have been asked to respond urgently to epidemics of H1N1 influenza, Ebola, Zika, and now SARS-CoV-2. An H1N1 influenza vaccine was developed relatively rapidly, largely because influenza-vaccine technology was well developed and key regulators had previously decided that vaccines made using egg- and cell-based platforms could be licensed under the rules used for a strain change. Although a monovalent H1N1 vaccine was not available before the pandemic peaked in the Northern Hemisphere, it was available soon afterward as a stand-alone vaccine and was ultimately incorporated into commercially available seasonal influenza vaccines.Active biotech companies with recent developments include:Hoth Therapeutics, Inc.(NASDAQ:HOTH),Gilead Sciences, Inc.(NASDAQ:GILD),Inovio Pharmaceuticals, Inc.(NASDAQ:INO),Sorrento Therapeutics, Inc.(NASDAQ:SRNE),Vaxart, Inc.(NASDAQ:VXRT).
Thearticlecontinued: Multiple platforms are under development. Among those with the greatest potential for speed are DNA- and RNA-based platforms, followed by those for developing recombinant-subunit vaccines. RNA and DNA vaccines can be made quickly because they require no culture or fermentation, instead using synthetic processes. Developers and regulators experience with these platforms for personal oncology vaccines can facilitate rapid testing and release. There are no approved RNA vaccines to date, but RNA vaccines have entered clinical trials, and regulators have experience in reviewing clinical trial applications and with associated manufacturing of the vaccines.
Hoth Therapeutics, Inc.(NASDAQ:HOTH)BREAKING NEWS:Hoth Therapeutics Provides Shareholder Update on Therapeutics Pipeline Management provides pipeline update for assets including its COVID-19 vaccine and peptide therapeutic Hoth Therapeutics today is providing an update on its pipeline of therapeutics including six compounds in various stages of clinical development, targeting atopic dermatitis, lupus as well as a COVID-19 vaccine and peptide therapeutic.
Hoth has assembled a unique and portfolio of therapeutics, that is each addressing significant unmet market needs globally, stated Mr.Robb Knie, CEO of Hoth Therapeutics.We have partnered with some of the most renowned doctors, clinics, and scientific institutions as we strive to bring these innovative therapeutic solutions through the clinic. We have several significant milestones upcoming throughout the rest of 2020 into next year including our human study for BioLexa, targeting the treatment of eczema in adolescents.Management remains committed to developing, and bringing these novel treatments to market and improving the lives of those that require them.
BioLexa Platform (Dermatological) The BioLexa Platform is a proprietary antimicrobial therapy designed for the treatment of atopic dermatitis or eczema through a non-corticosteroid approach. InJanuary 2020, Hoth concluded its In-life 28-day animal study. The BioLexa Platform has recorded positive results from its pilot project in 2019 and most recently obtained strong data from initial animal testing. Additionally the Company is preparing to begin its first trial in humans later this year.
VNLG-152 (Dermatological) Earlier this year, Hoth acquired the full licensing rights of VNLG-152 novel retinamides (Retinoic acid metabolism blocking agents, or RAMBAs) for the treatment of dermatological diseases. The Company previously announced that pre-clinical work is underway at Weill Cornell Medicine to examine the efficacy of RAMBAs in blocking acne pathogenic gene expression and carcinogenesis in mice. Currently, Hoth is exploring whether VNLG-152 is capable of blocking this inflammatory response. Immediately after identifying an effective dose of VNLG-152, the researchers will conduct studies on mouse skin to determine if this drug is effective in blocking acne-like inflammation. As the Weill Cornell lab reopens later this month Hoth has intentions to finalize results of its preclinical work.
WEG-232 (Dermatological) Last year Hoth entered into a research agreement with theGeorge Washington University(GW) to explore the potential use of WEG-232 for topical and/or systemic therapy to counter the dermatological related side-effects of Erlotinib therapy in cancer patients. Erlotinib is a drug that is used to combat various cancers and has been known to cause varying degrees of skin rashes, lesions, hair loss and nail changes to patient.A recent research study suggested the topical application of WEG-232 could be very effective in suppressing erlotinib induced-facial rash/hair loss with approximate 71% reduction. It concluded that WEG-232 may be used as an effective intervention to prevent EGFR-TKI-induced cutaneous toxicity. Hoth looks forward to filing a pre-IND with the FDA this year to receive guidance and begin its human trial.
VaxCelerate (COVID-19) VaxCelerateis self-assembling vaccine (SAV) platform designed to protect patients at risk of Coronavirus (COVID-19) infection. VaxCelerate is believed to offer unique advantages over other compounds in combination therapy. In infectious applications, it allows rapid development against viruses and other pathogens. The vaccine focuses on both DNA and internal / external mutated proteins providing the immune system with more potential targets to attack. VaxCelerate is currently in animal trials and will share those results as the testing completes.
Novel Peptide Therapeutic (COVID-19) The Company recently licensedtechnology and intellectual property exclusively fromVirginia Commonwealth University(VCU) for a novel peptide therapeutic to prevent spike protein binding, a potential leading cause of COVID-19.This treatment could be a breakthrough in slowing the transmission of the virus. Current research is being led by inventor,Michael H. Peters, Ph.D., Professor, Department of Chemical and Life Science Engineering at VCU, College of Engineering.The work is being aided, in part, by powerful supercomputers as part of the COVID-19 High Performance Computing Consortium through a virtual system that scientists can use to interactively share computing resources known as the Extreme Science and Engineering Discovery Environment. Hoth hopes to have an update as to further collaboration with VCU in the month ahead.
AEA loaded into Z-pods(Lupus) Developedin partnership with Zyl Therapeutics, Hoths AEZ-loaded Z-podsare currently being tested for approval in the treatment of Cutaneous Lupus Erythematosus(CLE). Scientists have demonstrated that topical administration with AEA-loaded nanoparticles significantly prevents the development of CLE in an established animal model of lupus.
Exon Skipping Approach (Allergic Disease) During Q4 of 2019, Hoth enteredinto a licensing agreement withNorth Carolina State University(NC State) to studyNC StatesExon Skipping Approach for Treating Allergic Diseases. This Exon Skipping Approach was developed by Dr.Glenn Cruse, Principal Investigator and Assistant Professor in the Department of Molecular Biomedical Sciences at the NCState College of Veterinary Medicine. During Dr. Cruses research, a new approach for the technique of antisense oligonucleotide-mediated exon skipping to specifically target and down-regulate IgE receptor expression in mast cells was identified.Through this collaborative project, NCSU looks to establish the most effective approach for targeting genes that regulate surface expression of FcRI in mast cells that mediate allergic airway inflammation.Read the full Press Release and more for HOTH at:https://www.financialnewsmedia.com/news-hoth
Other industry developments from around the markets include:
Gilead Sciences, Inc.(NASDAQ:GILD)recentlyannouncedtopline results from the Phase 3 SIMPLE trial in hospitalized patients with moderate COVID-19 pneumonia. This open-label study evaluated 5-day and 10-day courses of the investigational antiviral remdesivir plus standard of care, versus standard of care alone. The study demonstrated that patients in the 5-day remdesivir treatment group were 65 percent more likely to have clinical improvement at Day 11 compared with those in the standard of care group (OR 1.65 [95% CI 1.09-2.48]; p=0.017). The odds of improvement in clinical status with the 10-day treatment course of remdesivir versus standard of care were also favorable, trending toward but not reaching statistical significance (OR 1.31 [95% CI 0.88-1.95]; p=0.18). No new safety signals were identified with remdesivir across either treatment group. Gilead plans to submit the full data for publication in a peer-reviewed journal in the coming weeks.
Our understanding of the spectrum of SARS-CoV-2 infection severity and presentations of COVID-19 continues to evolve, saidFrancisco Marty, MD, an infectious diseases physician at Brigham and Womens Hospital, and associate professor of medicine atHarvard Medical School. These study results offer additional encouraging data for remdesivir, showing that if we can intervene earlier in the disease process with a 5-day treatment course, we can significantly improve clinical outcomes for these patients.
Inovio Pharmaceuticals, Inc.(NASDAQ:INO)recentlyannouncedthe publication of the preclinical study data for IN0-4800, its COVID-19 DNA vaccine, demonstrating robust neutralizing antibody and T cell immune responses against coronavirus SARS-CoV-2. The study was published in the peer-reviewed journal Nature Communications titled, Immunogenicity of a DNA vaccine candidate for COVID-19 by INOVIO scientists and collaborators from The Wistar Institute, theUniversity ofTexas, Public Health England,Fudan University, and Advaccine.
Dr.Kate Broderick, INOVIOs Senior Vice President of R&D and the Team Lead for COVID-19 vaccine development, said,These positive preclinical results from our COVID-19 DNA vaccine (INO-4800) not only highlight the potency of our DNA medicines platform, but also build on our previously reported positive Phase 1/2a data from our vaccine against the coronavirus that causes MERS, which demonstrated near-100% seroconversion and neutralization from a similarly designed vaccine INO-4700. The potent neutralizing antibody and T cell immune responses generated in multiple animal models are supportive of our currently on-going INO-4800 clinical trials.
Sorrento Therapeutics, Inc.(NASDAQ:SRNE)recentlyannouncedit has received clearance from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for its investigational new drug (IND) application for STI-6129, a CD38-targeting antibody drug conjugate (ADC). STI-6129 utilizes several technology platforms that are under development by Sorrento Therapeutics, including a CD38 specific antibody identified from its fully human G-MABantibody library, its proprietary drug payload Duostatin 5 and its site-specific C-LOCK conjugation technology.
That the FDA cleared our STI-6129 IND application to proceed to human trials is another important milestone forSorrento, stated Dr.Henry Ji, Chairman and CEO of Sorrento Therapeutics. Together with our CD38 CAR-T program, this has the potential to provide additional therapeutic options for patients in need. We are looking forward to further evaluating the safety and efficacy of STI-6129 in clinical trials.
Vaxart, Inc.(NASDAQ:VXRT)a clinical-stage biotechnology company developing oral recombinant vaccines that are administered by tablet rather than by injection, recentlyannouncedthat it has selected its lead COVID-19 vaccine candidate and has contracted with KindredBio to manufacture bulk vaccine under cGMP to complement the manufacturing capacity of partner Emergent BioSolutions.
All our COVID-19 vaccine constructs were highly immunogenic in preclinical testing, and we are taking the candidate forward that is expected to generate the broadest immune response in humans, saidSean Tucker, Ph.D., chief scientific officer of Vaxart. In a phase 2 efficacy study that was recently published in theLancet Infectious Diseases, we have demonstrated that our oral H1 flu tablet vaccine protected against influenza infection after just one dose. Based on these results, we believe our vaccines are ideal to protect against mucosal respiratory viruses such as SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19.
InJanuary 2020, Vaxart initiated a program to develop a COVID-19 vaccine based on its VAASToral vaccines platform. The Company evaluated multiple vaccine candidates in its preclinical models and has chosen the lead candidate for cGMP manufacturing and clinical testing based on the magnitude and the breadth of the immune response. Vaxart has contracted with Emergent BioSolutions (Emergent) and Kindred Biosciences, Inc. (KindredBio) to produce bulk vaccine under cGMP for upcoming clinical trials. The vaccine tablets will be manufactured at Vaxart.
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MOBILE, Ala. (WKRG) Alabamas first COVID-19 vaccine trial is coming to Mobile.
Coastal Clinical Research executives cannot tell us some things due to confidentiality agreements, but they said any healthy person can apply to get the experimental drug.
Gulf Coast residents from Mississippi to Florida can apply to be a trial vaccine volunteer.
Owner of Coastal Clinical Research Kathy Welch said, They know in its early testing that its very effective and the plan for this study is to find out the most effective dose with the fewest side effects.
Volunteers who get the vaccine will get free medical services and a stipend. Welch said her company is the oldest clinical research site in Alabama and has worked on vaccines like Ebola and Swine Flu.
Welch said, Usually when you get an injection, a vaccine, you know, into your upper arm, you might have some redness, or swelling, so theyll be looking that and the most effective lowest dose for the most people.
Coastal Clinical Research is part of a larger company with 16 additional sites across the United States.
General manager of the research company, Lauren Garner said, Quite a bit of our sites have already gotten started on COVID-19 vaccine studies.
The research team cannot tell yet say what pharmaceutical company theyre working with. Welch did say her team is following a protocol more than 100 pages long. We anticipate this medicine will get to market. Several of the vaccines may, but itd be nice to have it available locally even before its on the market, she said.
While a vaccine cannot undo any damage already done, Welch thinks it could be a big step preventing future outbreaks and deaths from COVID-19. She said, For those families whove lost someone I know that probably COVID-19 is on their minds all of the time, so I think this is some hope for the future.
Coastal Clinical Research will be posting the application on its website. CLICK HERE to go directly to their enrolling and upcoming studies page.
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