Category: Covid-19 Vaccine

As Indian firms scramble to develop a vaccine for coronavirus, experts feel that research in the country is still at a nascent stage and any concrete breakthrough is not likely within a year.

The Indian government and private firms have stepped up efforts to develop a vaccine to halt the spread of COVID-19 which has claimed over 3,700 lives with more than 1,25,000 cases in the country.

PM CARES Fund Trust has decided to allocate Rs 100 crore for support to coronavirus vaccine development efforts.

Referring to a vaccine to fight the virus, a PMO statement had said that it is the most pressing need and Indian academia, start-ups and industry have come together in cutting-edge vaccine design and development.

The Department of Biotechnology has been made a central coordination agency to identify pathways for vaccine development. Naming the Indian firms working on vaccines for COVID-19, Gagandeep Kang, executive director of the Translational Health Science and Technology Institute, Faridabad, had said last month that while Zydus Cadila is working on two vaccines, Serum Institute, Biological E, Bharat Biotech, Indian Immunologicals, and Mynvax are developing one vaccine each. The WHO has listed Serum Institute of India, Zydus Cadila, Indian Immunologicals Limited and Bharat Biotech from India among the firms involved in developing a vaccine.

Leading virologist Shahid Jameel said Indias vaccine manufacturing capacity is quite remarkable and at least three Indian companies - Serum Institute, Bharat Biotech and Biologicals E are at the forefont, working with international partners to manufacture a vaccine for COVID-19. Research on a COVID vaccine in India is at a very early stage of development and any candidates are likely to reach animal trials only by the end of the year, he told PTI. However, Indian vaccine companies have a lot of capacity and expertise, and are likely to play a significant role in bringing new COVID-19 vaccines to the market. This experience is important for institutions, industry and regulators to work together, and prepare for the future, said Jameel, a Shanti Swarup Bhatnagar Prize winner for Science and Technology and the current Chief Executive Officer of Wellcome Trust/Department of Biotechnologys India Alliance.

CSIR-Centre for Cellular & Molecular Biology (CCMB) Director Rakesh Mishra said, From what we know, we are not at an advanced stage of vaccine development at the moment. There are lots of ideas and companies initiating vaccine development process but there is nothing on trial in terms of vaccine candidates, he told PTI.

There are many efforts going on with different approaches like somebody wants to use the whole virus or a particular protein so there are multiple processes being deployed, he said.

Many Indian companies are collaborating with foreign institutions.Other countries are at much advanced stage than us. Some are going into third stage trials. There is no company testing vaccine in India yet and they are in the pre-clinical stage of preparation, he said.

India is quite behind because of a number of reasons like the coronavirus came to India two-three months later so we did not have the (inactivated) virus to test or even the urgency, Mishra said, adding that the Chinese and US are quite ahead in the vaccine development. If a comparison has to be made we are well behind international efforts, he said.

The novel coronavirus strain was isolated and characterised at the Indian Council of Medical Researchs National Institute of Virology, Pune, and the vaccine candidate has been transferred to Bharat Biotech International Limited (BBIL) to develop a fully indigenous vaccine for COVID-19. Once the vaccine is ready it will go for animal trials to be followed by human clinical trials to assess its safety and efficacy which will take at least one year, a senior ICMR official told PTI.

The BBIL is working towards developing killed virus vaccine which usually provides good immunogenicity, the official said, adding that by entering the body it will create antibody against the infection.

The polio drops which are given to children have live attenuated virus, while the polio injection contains killed virus, the official said explaining the different approaches used in developing a vaccine.

The BBIL is continuously working in this direction and as soon as they get the right formulation they will move towards animal challenge studies followed by human clinical trials, the official said.

Kang, in a webinar held by India Alliance, said there are two separate aspects that relates to vaccines of COVID-19, one is to use existing products and the second is to see if new vaccines can be made. In terms of projects to develop vaccines there are around 90 plus projects around the world that have initiated to develop new vaccines which use different kinds of technologies. Some are using old technologies like make an inactivated virus and spike protein and other using new technologies that allow you to respond rapidly like using messenger RNA vaccines, Kang said.

Every new technology is being applied for making COVID-19 vacines, he said.

The Indian firms along with their foreign collaborators are racing against time to develop a vaccine against COVID-19 with over 52 lakh cases and over 3.35 lakh fatalities across the globe. PTI UZM/PLB/ASK ZMN

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Covid-19 vaccine development at early stage in India; breakthrough unlikely within a year: Experts - Hindustan Times

The global scientific community has joined forces in an unprecedented effort to understand, track, forecast, test for, and find a cure for the current coronavirus pandemic. But in a crisis where every second lost means more loss of lives, solidarity alone isnt enough. Supercomputers are enabling a vastly accelerated pace by which scientists can conduct research and collect and analyze data. Never have they proven their value to society more than during this COVID-19 pandemic.

Supercomputers provide scientists with unique capabilities: they can explore the structure and behavior of the virus at the molecular level, and forecast the spread of the disease and design drugs much faster than would otherwise be possible.

The Texas Advanced Computing Center (TACC) began fielding requests for compute time to assist in the fight against COVID-19 in February 2020. In March, the White House enlisted some of the worlds most powerful supercomputers in the battle against COVID-1 through the COVID-19 High Performance Computing (HPC) Consortium, a public-private partnership providing researchers worldwide with massive computing resources.

As part of this effort, we are working closely with teams to provide priority access to supercomputing resources here and across the world. In the U.S. alone, there are more than 100 projects, involving thousands of researchers, using HPC systems to predict the effects of interventions like stay-at-home orders and school closings; to simulate the molecular behavior of the proteins that make the virus virulent; to understand the genetics of the virus and its mutability; to screen potential drugs and vaccines for efficacy; and to visualize and interactively share data with decision-makers.

At TACC, nearly a third of all computing time has been dedicated to accelerating these efforts the equivalent of 40,000 desktop computers churning non-stop. None of this would be possible without federal funding for high performance computing by the National Science Foundation (NSF) and Department of Energy (DOE), who have made open access to supercomputers part of their mission for more than four decades.

Beyond big machines, supercomputing centers employ some of the brightest minds in computational science, and these individuals are collaborating with teams across the nation to fast-track research.

Among these partnerships is the University of Texas at Austin COVID-19 Modeling Consortium, led by Dr. Lauren Ancel Meyers, which developed one of the leading epidemiological models of how the disease spreads based on virus transmission and real-time cell phone data. The White House and CDC, as well as the national media and public, have used the model to inform their understanding and decision-making.

A team from DOEs Argonne and Brookhaven National Laboratories applied several of the most powerful supercomputers in the world to accelerate an AI-based approach to drug docking. Their effort narrowed 6 billion possible small molecules to the 30 with the best chance of binding to one of the virus proteins and disrupting its function. These are now being tested in labs at the University of Chicago.

The TACC-powered COVID-19 Drug Discovery Consortium is collaborating with Enamine, the worlds largest provider of screening compounds, and Boston University, Texas A&M, and the University of Texas Medical Branch, to identify the 600 most promising, readily available, drug-like molecules (out of 2.6 million) and test them in high-containment laboratories in order to find potential drugs in months rather than years.

New projects are launching daily.

In many of these cases, long-term research collaborations helped speed the projects out of the gate. The UT Austin Modeling Consortiums projections built on a decade of federally-funded R&D on flu pandemic modeling by Meyers team. The DOE researchers adapted AI-based cancer drug discovery methods for SARS-CoV-2. The Drug Discovery Consortium leveraged tools and methods developed over many years to fight bioterrorism. Our ongoing relationships with these teams has made it possible for them to shift their research focus, expand their scope, and reduce limitations as they work towards a common good.

Academic research is frequently the first step in a long process that requires efforts by government agencies, philanthropic organizations, and industry. Basic science helps decision-makers protect the populace, and informs the creation of vaccines and treatments.

Under normal circumstances, this process takes years or decades. However, time is a luxury we simply do not have. The urgency of the challenge we face makes the application of research accelerators like supercomputers even more critical to help flatten the curve and ultimately solve the greatest crisis we as a society have ever faced.

Dan Stanzione is the director of TACC at The University of Texas at Austin.

A version of this op-ed appeared in The Hill.

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How Supercomputers Are Getting Us Closer to a Covid-19 Vaccine - UT News | The University of Texas at Austin

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KING COUNTY -- The first phase of a Covid-19 experimental vaccine trial is showing positive results, and the first injections in people happened here in the greater Seattle area.

Jennifer Haller was the first person to receive the experimental Covid-19 vaccine. She got her first injection March 16.

The only side effect that I had was soreness at the site of injection. I felt really normal. It felt similar to the same experience Ive had in the past with flu shots," she said.

Neal Browning is a network engineer from Bothell. He was also one of the first few to test the experimental vaccine for safety.

I knew it was important for me to step forward and say, 'Im a human being, too.' This affects us all. If I can do this for the greater good, I should do that, said Browning.

The experimental vaccine was developed by Moderna, a biotechnology company in Massachusetts.

After eight weeks of testing the vaccine in 45 people, the company is finding the vaccine is generally safe, well-tolerated and producing antibodies in eight of the candidates so far.

They had produced successful amount of antibodies equal or surpassing what was present in people who had already contracted and gotten over Covid-19, said Browning.

While the vaccine is showing positive results, both Haller and Browning said this potential layer of protection isnt putting their guard down with stay home orders and social distancing still in effect.

I dont suppose I have any special immunity right now. I continue to live my life as I have been, as everybody else is, said Haller. Im continuing to practice social distancing and wearing a face mask when Im out in public.

Taking that risk and possibly infecting my family, its not something Im willing to do, so while I may feel a little safer out there I dont take any more risks than I normally would, said Browning.

Both Haller and Browning received a low dose of the vaccine.

The next phase of the experimental vaccine trial will be led by the National Institute of Health, where researchers will determine if a low or medium dose is better suited for a definitive third trial in July.

I was super happy and Ive been kind of on Cloud 9 the whole time, said Browning after learning early results were looking promising.

If everything goes smoothly, Moderna is ambitiously planning to ramp us vaccine production for the end of 2020 or early next year.

Experts in the field said its too soon to really know how effective Modernas experimental vaccine will be. It is one of eight companies worldwide testing Covid-19 vaccines in people.

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Covid-19 vaccine trial participants weigh in on early results - Q13 News Seattle

Many restaurants and bars around the country reopened this past weekend, and they turned out to be very busy. Storyful

As the world surged pastthe 5 million-mark in confirmed coronavirus cases Thursday, the director of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said he can't predict whether anotherround of lockdowns is coming as a possible second wave of the viruslooms.

Meanwhile, the U.S. pledged to spend up to $1.2 billion for an experimental COVID-19 vaccine being tested in England, and researchers said tens of thousands of American lives could have been saved if social distancing measures had been enacted only a week earlier.

On his visit to Ford in Michigan on Thursday, President Donald Trump did not wear a mask in front of photographers becausehe"didnt want to give the press the pleasure of seeing it" although Ford officials encouraged him to wear one.

The United Statesaccounts for 31%of the 5 million global coronavirus caseswith more than 1.5million confirmed, according to theJohns Hopkins University data dashboard.More than 329,000 people have died globally; the U.S. death toll is more than 94,700.

Our live blog is being updated throughout the day. Refresh for the latest news, and get updates in your inbox with The Daily Briefing. Scroll down for more details.

Here are some highlights to know Thursday:

As states reopen, were answering your questions:Can your kids and grandkids visit?It's not safe until community transmission has been eliminated in both areas and the groups getting together have no illness and have had no outside exposures for a week to two weeks.

What we're talking about:New CDC guidelines say the coronavirus "does not spread easily" via surfaces."I believe (that the guidelines) are trying to reduce fear and paranoia about methods of transmission," said Dr.Manisha Juthani, an infectious disease doctorat Yale. Here's what else you shouldknowabout the guidelines.

Leaving your coronavirus isolation?Think about these 3 thingsfirst to minimize the risk.

Staying Apart, Together: USA TODAY brings a newsletter about how to cope with these trying times straight to your inbox.

Ford executives encouraged PresidentDonald Trump to don a face maskduring his visit to one of its factories Thursday, but he said he chose not to wear it near photographers because he "didnt want to give the press the pleasure of seeing it."

Trump, who wasseen holding a navy blue maskwith the presidential seal but not wearing it, said he put it on earlier in the tour.Ford officials accompanying the president were seen wearing face masks, according to reporters traveling with the president.

The president has come under scrutiny in the past for largely ignoring recommendations from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, which recommends Americans wear masksin public during the coronavirus pandemic.Trump, who notes the CDC advice is not mandatory, has described the decision as a "personal choice."

John Fritze and Courtney Subramanian

An Amazon warehouse worker in North Randall, Ohio, died from COVID-19, bringing the total known deaths at the company to eight employees, officials confirmed Thursday to NBC News.

The female employee went to work the same day she was diagnosed on April 30 but the company wasn't informed until May 8, an Amazon spokesperson told NBC News. The employee passed away on May 18.

"We are saddened by the loss of an associate who had worked at our site in Randall, Ohio," Amazon spokesperson Lisa Levandowski told the outlet. "Her family and loved ones are in our thoughts, and we are supporting her fellow colleagues."

Federal regulators are investigating a Texas laboratory that a Florida hospital chain dropped last weekbecause of delayed and unreliable COVID-19 test results.

AdventHealth, which has45 hospitals in nine states, terminated its Florida contract with MicroGen DX due to concerns about the validity of some of the 60,000 tests MicroGenhad processed for the system becausethe lab left them at room temperature for days,according to an AdventHealth statement. The specimensshouldbe refrigerated at 2 to 7 degrees Celsius(about 32 degrees Fahrenheit) and then put in freezers at -70 degrees Celsius after three days, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

MicroGen promotes shipping COVID-19samples through FedEx on its website.

The company is also selling a saliva-only test that can be administered in a "hospital, clinic, drive-thru clinic or at-home," inall 50 states without an Emergency Use Authorization from the Food and Drug Administration, said MicroGen spokeswoman Ashley Moore.

MicroGen CEO Rick Martin said he doesn't believe the company needs one.Martin said he was unaware of "any inquiries into our lab," but added that after the AdventHealth announcement it started working with the American College of Pathologists on its testing requirements, "which we are confident we will continue to meet."

At least 32workers at the Amazon campus in the city of Kenosha in Wisconsinhave contractedcoronavirus in the past two months, according to messages sent to employees and shared with the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.

Amazon officials have not fully cooperated with public health workers trying to track cases, inform workers who might be at risk or offer testing and other safety measures, said Jen Freiheit, health officer for Kenosha County.

Were at the point now that since were not getting that, were going to look into what other measures we can take for Amazon, because we are not getting as far with compliance as we would like, Freiheit said.

If Amazon officials do not cooperate with health officials, Freiheit said she would consider attempting to shut down the Kenosha facilities, located in Wisconsin, south of Milwaukee and north of Chicago.Amazon has not provided an official total number of cases at its Kenosha facilities to county health officialsand declined to provide thenumber to the Journal Sentinel.

Rory Linnane,Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

Universal Orlando asked state and local officials in Florida on Thursday to allow the theme park to reopen as soon as June 1, with precautions due to thecoronavirus. The economic recovery task force in Orange County unanimously approved Universal's plan. The plan must also be approved by Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis.

If approved, Universal Orlando could be oneof the biggest theme parks in the country to reopen. Universal,Walt Disney Worldand SeaWorld in Florida have been closed since mid-Marchbecause of the global pandemic. A reopened Universal will look very different for visitors and employees, according to a presentation made to the local economic recovery task force Thursday by company officials.

Upon arrival, valet parking will not be available, and cars will park one or two spaces apart. Visitors and employeeswill receive temperature checks andwill be required to wear face coverings. Universal will provide disposable face masks for visitors who don't bring their own.

Curtis Tate

The U.S. is betting more than $1 billion on a vaccine that does not exist. The American government has pledged to pay as much as $1.2 billion to get early access to 300 million doses of an experimental COVID-19 vaccine being developed and tested in England.The vaccine is being developed by theUniversity of Oxfords Jenner Instituteand licensed to British drugmaker AstraZeneca.

The vaccine is in early clinical trials andbeing tested for safety, whether it produces antibodies against SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19, and whether it protects the immunized from becoming infected with the virus. The first tests began in England on April 23. The vaccine could bedelivered as early as Octoberbut would still have to go through the completion of clinical trials before it can be administered.

The contract is a major milestone in Operation Warp Speeds work toward a safe, effective, widely available vaccine by 2021, Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar said in a news release.

Elizabeth Weise

Had states across the country begun issuing stay-at-home orders just one week before they did, nearly 36,000 people would not have died and more than 700,000 positive virus cases would have been avoided, new research from Columbia University shows.

Social distancing for two weeks before when most people began staying at home could have prevented 54,000 deathsand 960,000 cases, the researchers found. Both figures are more than 57% of the current U.S. numbers in those categories.

Many states told residents to stay home in mid-March, but research indicates that by then the virus had already reached community spread in some places, like New York City. The researchers found that at least 17,500 deaths in the New York metropolitan area alone could have been prevented had social distancing measures been enacted a week earlier.

"That small moment in time, catching it in that growth phase, is incredibly critical in reducing the number of deaths," Jeffrey Shaman, an epidemiologist who led the research at Columbia University, told the New York Times.

Starting in June, couples getting married in Ohio will be able to invite up to 300 guests to the reception without running afoul of public health regulations.

Lt. Gov. Jon Husted said Thursday the modification to current restrictions, part of Gov. Mike DeWine's loosening of measures to combat the coronavirus, will be effective June 1. There was no word on whether the bride and groom would be allowed to get close enough to kiss, but Husted said cateringand banquet facilities would have to set tables at least six feet apart.

Wedding receptions have been limited to no more than 10 people as Ohio banned large gatherings starting in mid-March.

Florida is no longer suppressing information in the table of COVID-19 deaths compiled by the state's medical examiners, according to Dr. Stephen J. Nelson, the chairman of the state's medical examiners commission.

Statemedical examiners are tasked with investigating and certifying COVID-19 deaths, including cause-of-death determinations. A COVID-19 positive test result is a requirement for reporting any death as due to the coronavirus.

FLORIDA TODAY, part of the USA TODAY Network, first reported that cause of death and descriptive entries of the medical examiners database were suppressed from public record in April. The Tampa Bay Times earlier in April reported that the count of the deaths by medical examiners diverged from the Department of Health's death count, at times by as much as 10%.

The timing of the reversal comes as the state faces scrutiny over data as it reopens.

Alessandro Marazzi Sassoon

CDC director Dr. Robert Redfield told the Financial Times that he "can't guarantee" whether or not a second round of stay-at-home orders is coming for the United States in the winter as the new coronavirus may see a second wave that coincides with cold weather and a flu season.

"I can't guarantee; that's kind of getting into the opinion mode. We have to be data driven,'' Redfield told the newspaper. "What I can say is that we are committed to using the time that we have now to get this nation as overprepared as possible."

Redfield said the spread of the virus in the southern hemisphere gives him concern about a second wave at the end of 2020 in the northern hemisphere.

About 2.4 million Americans filed initial unemployment claims last week, the Labor Department said Thursday, as the health and economic crisis sparked by the coronavirus ruptures a growing number of industries.

In just nine weeks, nearly 39million have sought jobless benefits that represent the nations most reliable gauge of layoffs.

The latest claims tally was down from the 3 million who filed claims the week before, and the record 6.9 million who sought assistance in late March. Initial applications for unemployment insurance have now steadily declined seven weeks in a row.

Charisse Jones

The federal government expects a busy hurricane season for the Atlantic Basin, with six to 10 hurricanes forming, forecasters said Thursday.The announcement comes against the backdrop of the coronavirus, which will almost certainly impact evacuations and shelter from approaching storms.

Overall, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) said 13 to 19 named storms will develop. This number includes tropical storms, which contain wind speeds of 39 mph or higher. Of the predicted six to 10 hurricanes, three to six could be major, packing wind speeds of 111 mph or higher.

Doyle Rice

One of the longest-serving White House employees ever died last week from COVID-19, his granddaughter toldWTTG in Washington, D.C.WilsonRoosevelt Jerman, 91, started working at the White House as a cleaner in 1957, during the Eisenhower administration, granddaughter Jamila Garrett told the TV station.

First lady Jackie Kennedy promotedJerman to become a butler, said Garrett, adding that heworked for 11 presidents and their families.

In a statement to NBC News, former President George W. Bush and first lady Laura Bush called Jerman "a lovely man. He was the first person we saw in the morning when we left the residence and the last person we saw each night when we returned."

Speaking at a virtual graduation ceremony for medical students, Dr. Anthony Fauci, head of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, said new doctors' contributions will be needed to combat the COVID-19 pandemic.

"This challenge is exactly what you trained for, and a successful response requires the training that you have received," Fauci said. "Now more than ever, we need your talent, your energy, your resolve and your character."

Making a mask?Here's where you can buy the material to DIY

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Michael Cohen, President Donald Trump's former personal lawyer who is serving a three-year sentence, was released from a New York federal prison Thursday to serve the remainder of his term at home amid coronavirus fears.

Cohen, who had been held at a prison camp in Otisville, New York, was to be released on furlough pending a formal placement in home confinement, said a person familiar with the matterwho is not authorized to comment publicly.

More than two dozen inmates and officers have been infected with the virus at the prison facility.

Kevin Johnson and Kristine Phillips

Having trouble unlocking your iPhone with Face ID while wearing a face mask?Apples latest iPhone software update, iOS 13.5, released Wednesday, will make it easier to unlock the phone.

After installing the update, users will no longer have to wait for Face ID to fail several times before being prompted to enter apasscode. After Face ID fails for the first time, users can swipe up from the bottom of the screen and enter a passcode to unlock the phone or approve an Apple Pay transaction. Users can also swipe up from the bottom of the iPhone screen right away.

Jessica Guynn

Ohio and West Virginia will reopen restaurants for indoor seating on Thursday, one day after Connecticut took its initial reopening steps and Delaware reopened retail businesses by appointment only.

More changes are coming Friday: Alaska will resume life as it was"prior to the virus," with a full reopening of the economy without restrictions; Iowa will reopen movie theaters, museums and zoos; and Kentucky will allow restaurants to operateat 33% capacity indoors with unlimited outdoor seating. Find the latest news in your state.

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The CDC has always warned that "it may be possible" to become infected with the coronavirus by touching contaminated surfaces or objects. It just"does not spread easily" in that manner, the agency now says, norby animal-to-human contact, or vice versa.

"COVID-19 is a new disease and we are still learning about how it spreads," theCDC said in updating its guidelines."It may be possible for COVID-19 to spread in other ways, but these are not thought to be the main ways the virus spreads."

The CDC still warns that the main way the virus is spread is through person-to-person contact, even among those who are not showing any symptoms.

Savannah Behrmann

As families struggle in the new pandemic economy, here's what you need to know about loans, providers and how to get the best deal. USA TODAY

Contributing: The Associated Press

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Coronavirus live updates: President Trump doesn't wear mask on part of trip to Michigan; Universal Orlando wants to reopen by June 1 - USA TODAY

Dr. Lilly Immergluck last week gave what she called the vaccine lecture to a group of Morehouse School of Medicine students.

Immergluck, a pediatrician, infectious disease specialist and an assistant professor at the Atlanta school since 2005, talks each year to all students there about how vaccines have helped control the spread of the measles and other diseases. Part of her goal is to encourage students to share with patients and their communities the effectiveness of vaccines, a conversation thats taken on greater importance as researchers work on a COVID-19 vaccine.

We dont know where (we are on vaccine research), but we need to be informed, Immergluck said in a telephone interview.

Public health experts and local doctors are worried many Americans wont take a vaccine once its ready. Several polls show about 60% of Americans, at most, would be vaccinated while the rest say they wont or are unsure.

Although a vaccine is likely months, or a year away from being approved, the information wars have begun over the effectiveness of a vaccine. Some social media platforms, such as YouTube, earlier this month removed from their sites Plandemic, a short film blaming the outbreak of the disease on the World Health Organization and claiming the flu vaccine increases chances of getting COVID-19. Critics said the film was full of misinformation, but some anti-vaccination activists are continuing to find ways to repost it.

Most communication work on the pro-vaccine front is currently being done by educators and experts instead of public health organizations. Dr. Scott Ratzan, a longtime public health communications expert who is a guest lecturer at the City University of New York, is working with Emory University professor Dr. Ruth Parker on at least one potential public awareness campaign and exploring other ideas with experts worldwide.

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention did not respond to several requests for comment. The U.S. Health & Human Services Department did not respond to an email request for comment.

The Georgia Department of Public Health said in a statement it speaks frequently about the importance of vaccines, particularly for the flu. For now, though, We have not done anything promoting a COVID-19 vaccine as we dont know enough about it yet.

Vaccine hesitancy and skepticism isnt new. The arguments against vaccination in 18th-century Europe, according to an infographic on the Measles Rubella Initiative website, included concerns about safety, a general distrust of medicine or that smallpox was Gods punishment and shouldnt be treated. In recent years, the vaccination debate has focused largely on influenza shots and measles vaccinations, as several states with outbreaks last year tried to tighten exemptions to lower infection rates.

Glen Nowak, a former CDC communications director who now runs the University of Georgias journalism and mass communication Center for Health & Risk Communication, says there are pockets of vaccine hesitancy among conservatives who dont trust government and some progressives worried about safety. Nowak believes a public campaign is critical.

We should be undertaking that work today so when the vaccine is available, we can get the highest acceptance rate, he said.

Anti-vaccination activists have participated in rallies encouraging states to reopen in recent weeks. The activists say they are demonstrating for individual liberty and against vaccine requirements in some states. They organized a teleconference a few weeks ago, according to news accounts. Prominent activists include Robert F. Kennedy Jr., son of the former U.S. attorney general who leads an environmental preservation organization. One Facebook group, Stop Mandatory Vaccination Now, has more than 140,000 followers.

Medical mandates are justified with the excuse of protecting others, Larry Cook, a leading anti-vaccination activist, wrote Monday in a post shared by anti-vaccination groups on Facebook. Dont make someone elses health status my problem.

In response to the anti-vaccination pages, several people have created pages encouraging vaccinations. Facebook and Twitter direct browsers searching for the anti-vaccination groups to the HHS site or vaccines.gov.

Ratzan, Immergluck and others say one issue is many people are reluctant to get shots because they dont understand how vaccines work in the human body. Another challenge is health experts sometimes dont operate from the same sheet of music in their messaging. As Parker noted, there were mixed messages about what masks work best. Initially, some experts said a mask wasnt necessary.

Polling shows vaccine supporters have work to do to convince some racial groups about the potential effectiveness of a COVID-19 vaccine.

A recent survey in New York, the epicenter of the disease, by a team that included Ratzan, found Hispanics were least likely to say they would get vaccinated (30%), followed by African Americans (50%); whites (71%) and Asians (73%). Health experts say some Hispanics are worried about what will be done with vaccine records. Many African Americans are leery, citing examples such as the Tuskegee Experiment, where the federal government oversaw research, starting in 1932, in which about 400 black men in the Alabama community with syphilis were deliberately left untreated for as long as 40 years so doctors could study the disease.

(I)f a new vaccine is going to free us to live more like the people we were before the pandemic, our data suggests we will need to provide them with the credible information and assurances they need to decide that the vaccine is right, for them, their families and their communities, Ratzans team wrote in an op-ed published Sunday in The Star-Ledger of Newark. We should be addressing this challenge now.

As the research work continues toward a vaccine, Immergluck stressed the importance of getting flu shots because of a potential spike in infections of both diseases this fall.

We are just going to tap out our medical and health care settings in so many ways if we cant try to minimize the impact of influenza on top of the (COVID-19) situation, she said.

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GEORGIAS VACCINE LAWS

Georgia requires children to get vaccines against certain diseases before attending various grades in school. The vaccines are designed to fight diseases such as the measles, meningitis, polio and rubella.

The state allows religious exemptions, but an affidavit is required and must be kept at the childs school or child care facility.

Source: Georgia Department of Public Health

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Why developing a COVID-19 vaccine is only part of the struggle - Atlanta Journal Constitution

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COVID-19 Vaccine Trials Are Taking Place Right Now in the USHere's What You Need to Know

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COVID-19 Vaccine Trials Are Taking Place Right Now in the USHere's What You Need to Know - Health.com

A recent study conducted by events analytics firm Performance Researchin partnership with Full Circle Research Co. and published by Varietycould mean bad news for Hollywood. Seventy percent of respondents said they prefer to watch new movies from homea continuation of a worrisome trend for the film industry. Thirteen percent of those respondents said they would watch from a local cinema, and the last 17% were unsure.

It may seem as if the news is constantly reporting about the masses of people who are rushing to be social again now that states are opening back up, but most people plan to remain cautious before jumping back into the mix. The studysurveyed 1,000 people to see what the entertainment industry is facing when it comes to earning back public confidence in attending venues again.

The most notable findings state that 52% of respondents said they will attend fewer large public events, even after the CDC and local governments say its safe to do so. Sixty percent of respondents say the idea of attending a public event will scare them for a while. The study covered Broadway, live concerts, and movie theaters, and the answers are similar across the board. The most challenging stat for the entertainment industry was this one: Ninety percent of respondents want a COVID -19 vaccine before going back to public venues.

One of the more surprising findings had to do with movie genrelong dominated by IP-driven sure bets like superhero movies and basically everything that comes out of Disney. But here, comedy had the most allure, with 43% of respondents naming it as the genre they most preferred to see on a big screen. Drama was the next most popular, with 35% of respondents, and superhero movies came in third, with 33% of respondents. Nineteen percent of respondents were interested in horror.

Its not surprising that people will remain cautious for a while, but if were being optimistic, maybe we can read these responses as a sign that people will demand that Hollywood rearrange some of its priorities. Comedy has been on the decline in box office numbers for the past couple of years, but the need for laughter in high anxiety times is clutch.

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Bad news, Hollywood: 90% of survey respondents want COVID-19 vaccine before going back to movies - Fast Company

Imagine, if you can, life as it was a few months ago. Shopping for groceries without nervously eyeing anyone who creeps within six feet of you. Sitting down for dinner at a restaurant and actually enjoying the crowd. Watching live sports. These ho-hum aspects of everyday life are now the stuff of fantasy, reminders of a way of life the world is growing more and more desperate to reclaim. A beer in a bar with a friend feels as exotic as a daiquiri on a South Pacific beach.

A more pressing fantasy to fulfill is the one in which hundreds of Americans arent dying on a daily basis from a virus the scientific community still doesnt fully understand. Unlike some other nations, the U.S. has been unable to contain the spread of the virus, which means the development of a vaccine is likely the only way to reclaim any semblance of normalcy. Desperation for one has led to an unprecedented mobilization in which governments, scientists, and the pharmaceutical industry have trained their energy on bringing one to market in record time.

So when will a vaccine be available? Why, with so much interest and resources funneled into the cause, are researchers unable to develop one faster than many are projecting? Why is there so much uncertainty about when the population will be able to receive inoculations, and some pandemic-mutated version of life as we once knew it will be able to resume?

When President Trump was first asked how long Americans would have to wait for a vaccine on March 2nd, he threw out three or four months before deferring to Dr. Anthony Fauci, the nations leading infectious-disease expert. Fauci clarified that it is going to be, at the earliest, a year to a year and a half before a vaccine is deployable, no matter how fast you go.

Just over two months and 80,000 dead Americans later, the Trump administration is promising a vaccine will be available to the American public by the end of the year, the result of an initiative dubbed Operation Warp Speed. Fauci is still sticking to his 12-to-18-month time line. I think it is more likely than not that we will get a vaccine within a year or two, he told senators during a hearing last Tuesday, citing the progress made since the effort began. Its definitely not a long shot.

The progress so far has been encouraging, if not remarkable. Bringing a vaccine candidate for a novel virus through clinical trials typically takes years, usually many of them, but in just four months since COVID-19s genetic sequence was determined in January, a handful of candidates have entered clinical trials. The most promising among them are expected to wrap up human testing by the end of this year. New technologies are being harnessed, companies and governments that typically compete are now collaborating, and billions of dollars in funding has been made available. These are all promising signs, but they dont guarantee a vaccine will be available anytime soon. The time line remains the biggest unanswered question.

According to a 2013 paper by researchers at the University of Rotterdam, in the Netherlands, the average vaccine development time line is 10.71 years. The record is four years, how long it took to develop a vaccine for mumps in the Sixties when regulations werent as stringent. Meanwhile, researchers have been working on an HIV vaccine for close to 40 years. Most experts ballpark the range of potential time frames anywhere from five to 20 years.

While these experts allow that a COVID-19 candidate could be licensed not to mention manufactured and distributed within 12 to 18 months, they also note that it is highly unlikely. Its more than just the optimistic side of the spectrum, says Dr. Peter Hotez, dean of Baylors College of Tropical Medicine. Its the unprecedented side of the spectrum. Thats the part that concerns me. Weve never done it. It doesnt mean its impossible and were not trying, but its never been done.

Rolling Stone spoke with experts to get a better understanding of the complicated, delicate process of developing a vaccine that will be injected into the arms of hundreds of millions if not billions of healthy people, and what the quarantined masses can expect from the effort in the coming months.

One of the reasons we could see a vaccine within the next year or two is a dramatically shortened research runway. Scientists typically need years to study a virus and secure funding to develop a vaccine candidate. The latter is especially difficult. One of the reasons you dont see a lot of [investment] in this space is because the time horizons are long, the risk is high, and most things dont advance, Hotez says.

Hotez and his longtime collaborator Dr. Maria Elena Bottazzi spent nearly 20 years developing a vaccine for SARS-1, which infected hundreds in Asia and Canada in the early 2000s, but ultimately had to put it on the shelf before entering clinical trials because they ran out of funding. But the time Hotez, Bottazzi, and others spent researching coronaviruses like SARS and MERShas given scientists a huge head start in the race to develop a vaccine for SARS-Cov-2, the novel coronavirus that causes COVID-19.

Our SARS vaccine went through a very robust series of tests to evaluate purity, quality, functional ability, induce the right immune response, and ensure safety, says Bottazzi, who along with Hotez is now working to develop a COVID-19 vaccine. You can extrapolate a lot because these viruses are very similar.

This base of knowledge has emboldened scientists to forge ahead where in the past more research may have been warranted. Though this may increase the likelihood of failure, its a worthwhile risk considering the sheer number of players in the game. There are more than 115 vaccine candidates currently in development. Only a few of them need to succeed to cover the global need. If you really want to get to that time line of one year to 18 months, it means simultaneously advancing a lot of candidates forward, Hotez says. Its really the safety testing that is going to take longer than anything else.

Testing a vaccine candidate typically involves running it through preclinical trials in which it is tested on animals, followed by three phases of clinical trials, starting small with a few dozen human subjects before broadening to tens of thousands.

Researchers working to develop a COVID-19 vaccine want to compress this process, which invariably takes years of trial and error, into a few months. Testing is being done on humans and animals concurrently, and less time will be taken to study the results of each phase of human trials before moving onto the next. As Hotez puts it, developers have been charged with trying to do things in parallel, rather than serially. For example, Moderna, a biotech company that has received $430 million in federal funding, recently announced plans to begin Phase III trials in early summer. Meanwhile, they havent even entered Phase II yet, and only began Phase I in March.

As Fauci noted while speaking to senators last Tuesday, at least eight COVID-19 vaccine candidates have entered clinical development. Moderna is one of them, and on Monday the company announced their candidate appears to be safe and to have generated an immune response in the eight people it was tested on in March. The company has been a favorite of Fauci, who praised its progress while speaking to senators. But its also using a technological platform messenger RNA, or mRNA that has never yielded a licensed vaccine. There is no mRNA vaccine like this yet, says Dr. Rino Rappuoli, chief scientist at GlaxoSmithKline, one of the worlds leading vaccine manufacturers. We dont know how effective its going to be. Its kind of an unknown.

There are other risks to accelerating the testing process. Experts have cautioned about the potential for a vaccine to make the disease worse, an issue that emerged in animal testing for SARS-1. COVID-19 also has a relatively high asymptomatic infection rate (between 20 and 40 percent), which means a larger testing pool is ideal, and the likelihood of re-exposure, which is far greater than that of SARS-1, means a longer-term evaluation period is preferable. Unfortunately, its not an option. When you have an emergency, you can change the ratio between the risks that you want to take to the benefit youre going to gain, Rappuoli says.

Researchers are confident the sheer number of candidates spread across different platforms will result in a variety of safe, effective options that can satisfy the global need even if the majority of them fail. We have multiple candidates and hope to have multiple winners, Fauci said on Tuesday. In other words, [were taking] multiple shots on goal.

This doesnt necessarily mean anyone is going to score. The same University of Rotterdam study that set the average vaccine development timeline at 10.71 years also found that only six percent of vaccines that enter clinical trials go on to enter the market, and this is after years of research, approvals, and testing. The harried nature of the race to develop a COVID-19 vaccine only increases the likelihood any given candidate will fail.

After a vaccine candidate makes it through clinical trials, it must be licensed by a regulatory agency. In the U.S., its the Food and Drug Administration, which typically takes around a year to license new drugs. This isnt a typical situation. When you are under pressure like now, the regulatory agencies that usually take a long time just to respond to you, now you can talk to them every day, Rappuoli says. They are very eager to accelerate the global collaboration between vaccine developers, pharma, and regulatory agencies.

This should be easy then, right? More or less, but some worry it may be too easy. The FDA will be under a tremendous amount of political pressure to license a vaccine candidate, and its commissioner, Stephen Hahn whom Rolling Stone recently highlighted as one of the four men responsible for Americas failure to respond to the coronavirus doesnt exactly inspire confidence. There was a moment when Donald Trump said the FDA was working with them, says Dr. Paul Offit, director of the Vaccine Education Center at the Childrens Hospital of Philadelphia and member of the FDAs vaccine advisory committee. That worries me.

Also of concern to Offit is the prospect of the FDA forgoing the approval process entirely. I worry theyre going to use Emergency Use Authorization to get around the FDA, he says. I think that would be a mistake. I really do. Although we see regulation as burdensome, you want the FDA to regulate these products. You want someone to take a long hard look at what the data are before they license it for use in this country.

It wouldnt be the first time an unapproved vaccine was deployed. In 2014, an Ebola vaccine still in clinical trials was given to front-line workers in West Africa. The experiment was a success and the vaccine was ultimately approved in 2019, but by the time it was first administered, researchers had been studying its potential effects for years, not months. Theres no time to do that in-depth of a functional evaluation, Bottazzi says. The FDA should follow due process based on evidence, but theyre also put in the very not normal position of having to do it fast, and they may [not be able to look at] the full study of evidence.

The decision over whether to license a vaccine immediately will hinge on a risk-benefit analysis. How dire is the immediate need for those most at risk? How easily could the vaccine be manufactured and distributed to them? To what extent are alternative treatments an option?

As with every aspect of this accelerated development process, scientists are having to make such determinations on the fly. Hotez has faith in the FDA to make the right decisions, but in the end its hard to know what to expect because the situation is so unprecedented. [The FDA] tends to insulate themselves pretty well from all the hype, and they tend to look at things without bias, Hotez says. Theyre really good scientists trying to think through this so I dont think theyre going to be swayed. But who knows whats going to happen.

Developing a safe and effective vaccine in a few months would be one type of miracle. Manufacturing hundreds of millions of doses of it, and then distributing those doses equitably, may be an even greater challenge that will require an unprecedented level of international collaboration, both among nations and between governments and private interests.

First and foremost, its going to require establishing infrastructure to produce hundreds of millions (if not billions) of doses of specific vaccines before they can be proven safe and effective. Johnson & Johnson, which has received nearly $460 million in federal funding, is already working on operationalizing factories, as are Moderna, Pfizer, and other developers near the front of the race. Bill Gates announced on The Daily Show recently that his foundation is contributing billions to help seven unnamed companies that are developing vaccines to ramp up their manufacturing in advance.

We will be producing vaccines at risk, Fauci told senators, which means we will be investing considerable resources in developing doses even before we know if any given candidate or candidates work.

A recent report from Politico outlined several of the complications with scaling the production of a vaccine, including a shortage of the types of glass and stoppers needed to construct vials, which could cause delays down the line. Once manufactured, the vaccine doses need to be stored and transported in a controlled temperature. This is just in the U.S. Everything has a challenge because youre using different techniques and machinery, Hotez says. Things are done differently in India than they are in Brazil.

Then theres distribution. Assuming some of these vaccines will get licensure in a very optimistic scenario, then the question is how many doses will be available, Rappuoli says. A million? 10 million? 100 million? A billion? How are you going to make this decision? Where should the vaccines go? This is going to need a lot of collaboration globally. Otherwise, countries are going to be very conservative and say they need it for themselves.

It could depend on where the first vaccines proven safe and effective originate. If theyre produced overseas, the U.S. could have trouble getting them. One of the most promising candidates in being developed by a group at Oxford University, which hopes to have a few million doses ready by September, but because pharmaceutical companies typically demand world-exclusive rights, theyve yet to work out a deal with an American manufacturer. At the same time, Sanofi, the French pharmaceutical giant developing two candidates in a collaboration with GlaxoSmithKline, has said the U.S. will have first dibs because it has invested in taking the risk, as the companys CEO recently told Bloomberg.

The potential for a global competition over vaccine doses is why Fauci and others have stressed the importance of putting a diversity of candidates through trials. No single vaccine or vaccine platform alone is likely to meet the global need, and so a strategic approach to the multipronged endeavor is absolutely critical, he wrote along with three other top scientists in a paper published this week in Science.

They concluded by emphasizing the need for cooperation: Cost, distribution system, cold chain requirements, and delivery of widespread coverage are all potential constriction points in the eventual delivery of vaccines to individuals and communities. All of these issues require global cooperation among organizations involved in health care delivery and economics.

No one really knows. There are so many variables involved in the production of a vaccine, and the mad dash to develop one in response to COVID-19 is so unprecedented that there is no way to predict when, how, or by whom a scalable candidate will emerge.

What most experts agree on, however, is that the 12-to-18-month time frame floated by Fauci is on the more optimistic side. When you say 12 to 18 months, I dont see how you can possibly learn everything you need to know in that time, Offit says. I understand that were panicked about the virus, but I worry corners might be cut. I honestly think that if everything went perfectly you could make this vaccine in five years.

Rappuoli believes it is technically possible to have a vaccine ready in 12 to 18 months, but acknowledges that getting one licensed in that time frame not to mention manufactured and distributed is probably a best-case scenario. I think we can shorten the time line, he says. How much we can shorten it depends on how successful were going to be and how aggressive the need for a vaccine will be. In the most optimistic scenario, we could have a licensed vaccine in one year. Reasonably in 18 months. Conservatively, I think in three years we should have a licensed vaccine.

Rappuolis estimate is in line with what other experts have expressed since COVID-19 overtook the United States: late 2021 or 2022, as a best-case scenario. Its not going to be easy, Hotez says. Its going to have to be a very carefully orchestrated dance between the epidemiological models, the scientists, the business community, and government leaders to work this out. Its doable, but its not going to be easy.

Tackling the coronavirus is also going to require far more than the development of a vaccine. Regardless of any absolutist reassurances Trump or his administration may relay to the nation, there are no black-and-white answers for how to move past COVID-19. The economy will not magically return to where it was a year ago as businesses begin to reopen, nor will society suddenly shed fears of dense gatherings when officials relax stay-at-home orders. The creation of a safe, effective vaccine, whenever it happens, will be one of many steps albeit a crucial one on what will inevitably be a years-long journey out of the fog of the pandemic. This is an important reality to accept for Americans desperate for a return to a normalcy.

We have to get over this idea that everybody just hunkers down for a year and then one day the vaccine is available and everybody goes on a picnic on the National Mall, Hotez cautions. Its not going to work that way.

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The Race to Develop a COVID-19 Vaccine, Explained - Rolling Stone

When a COVID-19 vaccine becomes available, I will be one of the first in line. But the fact is U.S. adults tend to have low vaccination rates. If the government determines that vaccinations are essential to stemming the spread of the disease, would it could it mandate vaccination compliance? Apparently, it can and it might.

Many medical experts believe that developing one or more COVID-19 vaccines is the key to reopening the economy and returning to our normal lives. For example, the Mayo Clinic says, A vaccine to prevent coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is perhaps the best hope for ending the pandemic.

The pharmaceutical industry has shifted into overdrive to find a vaccine effective against the coronavirus. Drug maker AstraZeneca hopes to have 30 million doses of its vaccine available in the U.K. by September. And Moderna just announced very promising results from its initial clinical trials.

But heres the problem: The majority of U.S. adults delay or skip vaccinations.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) encourages adults to be immunized for a range of diseases. The flu vaccine leads the CDCs list that includes tetanus and diphtheria every 10 years, shingles, pneumonia and several others.

Consider the flu vaccine. It is one of the most affordable and accessible vaccines available, and yet the CDC reports the adult vaccination rate over the past decade has ranged between 40 and 45 percent.

Fortunately, the same 10-year graph shows a much higher flu vaccination rate among older Americans: Between 65 and 68 percent for seniors. But only about 30 to 35 percent for 18-49 year-olds.

Children typically have much higher vaccination rates because all states require them with certain exemptions before children can enroll in public schools.

While a small percentage of Americans oppose vaccinations on religious or medical grounds, most of the unvaccinated apparently just choose not to.

Will a coronavirus vaccine see a higher uptake rate? Maybe. There is a lot of fear among the public, and that may persuade most adults to be vaccinated.

Costs probably wont be a barrier, either. About 91 percent of the population has health coverage. The Affordable Care Act requires public and private insurance to cover the entire cost of preventive care, which includes vaccines. And the government may ultimately cover vaccination costs for the uninsured.

Even so, it isnt clear that enough adults will choose to be vaccinated to create a herd immunity i.e., when roughly 60 to 80 percent of the population has developed immunity to a disease either by vaccination or having been infected and recovered. Epidemiologists say thats whats needed to end an epidemic.

If the COVID-19 vaccination rate is low, will the federal or, more likely, state governments step in and mandate vaccination?

The Congressional Research Service says the U.S. Supreme Court has ruled that The states general police power to promote public health and safety encompasses the authority to require mandatory vaccinations. And states have all exercised that authority for children, usually allowing for some exceptions.

CRS also says, Congress, as a result of various enumerated powers in the Constitution, likewise has some authority over public health matters, including regulation of vaccination.

Government mandated vaccinations for adults would be a major and controversial step. But then government has taken a number of major and controversial steps recently, such as shutting down the economy.

But just because government can do something doesnt mean it should, which is why finding an effective treatment is so important. The good news is the pharmaceutical industry is doing exactly that. There are currently more than 1,100 clinical trials globally looking for a safe and effective COVID-19 treatment.

A treatment doesnt necessarily mean a cure. We dont have a cure for the flu, either. But Tamiflu helps reduce the symptoms so people can recover sooner. Something similar may be our best bet for COVID-19.

Having an effective treatment wouldnt eliminate the need for an effective vaccine. It would simply mean that those who werent vaccinated would still have the opportunity to reduce the symptoms and return to their normal lives sooner.

Merrill Matthews is a resident scholar with the Institute for Policy Innovation in Dallas, Texas. Follow him on Twitter @MerrillMatthews.

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Will government mandate COVID-19 vaccinations? | TheHill - The Hill

Doctors in Greater Cincinnati are watching COVID-19 vaccine trials expand around the world.Cincinnati Children's Hospital said it is making final preparations and expects to administer a candidate vaccine closer to the end of the month, but no exact date has been announced yet.Doctors are paying close attention to new developments in each study."If we had a vaccine that induced immunity for at least six months, that that would be a very powerful weapon in the fight against COVID-19," Dr. Carl Fichtenbaum said.Fichtenbaum is a Professor of Clinical Medicine at the University of Cincinnati College of Medicine and he is watching COVID-19 vaccine development happening around the globe.There is promise coming from some vaccine studies, such as the one led by Massachusetts-based Moderna, Incorporated, another by researchers at Oxford University and, soon, Cincinnati Children's Hospital will administer doses in a vaccine trial.Fichtenbaum said the newest technology in some projects uses genetic material called messenger RNA to kickstart the immune system."This is the ability for these proteins to get produced and then for the body to react, create antibodies, that are then very well-adapted to stop the virus from causing infection," he said.Fichtenbaum said these multi-phase studies are searching for the right dose, with safety, effectiveness and lasting immunity in mind.Some have found antibody levels after vaccination in humans and in animals.He said an ideal vaccine test uses volunteers from areas where transmission is high-risk, and that could include nursing homes, where a vaccine might be a benefit."It's a matter of getting enough volunteers to enroll in a time period and also getting the right types of volunteers," Fichtenbaum said.He said it could be possible to have a vaccine out to the public in 2021."Vaccination has been a real advance to humanity and it's one of the reasons why we can live into our 70s, 80s and 90s," he said.At Children's Hospital, officials said they are moving as quickly as possible, but also want the study to be precise.Doctors said any approved vaccine will likely be tested in between 50,000 and 100,000 people.They said then, there will be about six to 12 months of follow-up to gather important safety information.

Doctors in Greater Cincinnati are watching COVID-19 vaccine trials expand around the world.

Cincinnati Children's Hospital said it is making final preparations and expects to administer a candidate vaccine closer to the end of the month, but no exact date has been announced yet.

Doctors are paying close attention to new developments in each study.

"If we had a vaccine that induced immunity for at least six months, that that would be a very powerful weapon in the fight against COVID-19," Dr. Carl Fichtenbaum said.

Fichtenbaum is a Professor of Clinical Medicine at the University of Cincinnati College of Medicine and he is watching COVID-19 vaccine development happening around the globe.

There is promise coming from some vaccine studies, such as the one led by Massachusetts-based Moderna, Incorporated, another by researchers at Oxford University and, soon, Cincinnati Children's Hospital will administer doses in a vaccine trial.

Fichtenbaum said the newest technology in some projects uses genetic material called messenger RNA to kickstart the immune system.

"This is the ability for these proteins to get produced and then for the body to react, create antibodies, that are then very well-adapted to stop the virus from causing infection," he said.

Fichtenbaum said these multi-phase studies are searching for the right dose, with safety, effectiveness and lasting immunity in mind.

Some have found antibody levels after vaccination in humans and in animals.

He said an ideal vaccine test uses volunteers from areas where transmission is high-risk, and that could include nursing homes, where a vaccine might be a benefit.

"It's a matter of getting enough volunteers to enroll in a time period and also getting the right types of volunteers," Fichtenbaum said.

He said it could be possible to have a vaccine out to the public in 2021.

"Vaccination has been a real advance to humanity and it's one of the reasons why we can live into our 70s, 80s and 90s," he said.

At Children's Hospital, officials said they are moving as quickly as possible, but also want the study to be precise.

Doctors said any approved vaccine will likely be tested in between 50,000 and 100,000 people.

They said then, there will be about six to 12 months of follow-up to gather important safety information.

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COVID-19 vaccine trials progress around the globe, in Greater Cincinnati - WLWT Cincinnati