First Trial of Moderna's Coronavirus Vaccine Produces Immune Response in All Participants
6h
Health + Wellness
The results from Moderna's Phase 1 coronavirus vaccine show it is safe and effective so far. Jakub Porzycki / NurPhoto via Getty Images
Results from the Phase 1 trial of Cambridge, Massachusetts biotech firm Moderna's coronavirus vaccine show it is safe and produces an immune response.
<p>The preliminary report of the trial, published in <a href="https://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/NEJMoa2022483?query=featured_home" target="_blank">The New England Journal of Medicine Tuesday</a>, reveals that all 45 participants developed so-called neutralizing antibodies that bind to the virus and stop it from attacking other cells. They developed these antibodies at levels comparable to the upper half of COVID-19 survivors.</p><p>"The good news is that this vaccine induced antibodies," director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases Anthony Fauci told <a href="https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2020-07-14/moderna-vaccine-produced-antibodies-in-all-patients-tested" target="_blank">Bloomberg News</a>. "Not just any kind of antibodies, but neutralizing antibodies."</p>
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">We just announced interim results from the NIH-led Phase 1 Study of our <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/mRNA?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#mRNA</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/vaccine?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#vaccine</a> against COVID-19 (mRNA-1273) in <a href="https://twitter.com/NEJM?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@NEJM</a>. Read more: <a href="https://t.co/YqPyTCgjBB">https://t.co/YqPyTCgjBB</a> <a href="https://t.co/e2AStO92ES">pic.twitter.com/e2AStO92ES</a></p>— Moderna (@moderna_tx) <a href="https://twitter.com/moderna_tx/status/1283149692587708417?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">July 14, 2020</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
<p><a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/public-health" target="_self">Public health</a> experts agree that a vaccine is necessary to return life to normal in the wake of a pandemic that has infected millions and killed almost 575,000, according to <a href="https://in.reuters.com/article/uk-health-coronavirus-moderna-idINKCN24F2T3?utm_campaign=trueAnthem%3A+Trending+Content&utm_medium=trueAnthem&utm_source=facebook" target="_blank">Reuters</a>. More than one vaccine will probably be required, because it will be difficult for any one company to produce the billions of doses needed, <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2020/07/14/health/cornavirus-vaccine-moderna.html" target="_blank">The New York Times pointed out</a>.</p><p>"None of us are safe unless all of us are safe," Columbia University virologist Dr. Angela Rasmussen told The New York Times. "It's not just us. It's everybody in the world."</p><p>The Moderna vaccine candidate was the first to be tested on human subjects, and Tuesday's published paper confirms the positive results <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/moderna-coronavirus-vaccine-trials-2646031857.html" target="_self">reported</a> by the company in May.</p>
<p>In the trial, 45 people aged 18 to 55 received two doses of the vaccine 28 days apart, according to Reuters. They received doses of either 25, 100 or 250 micrograms.</p><p>More than half of the people who received the middle dose experienced side effects like fatigue, chills, headache and muscle pain and 40 percent of them developed a fever after the second dose, according to Bloomberg. Three of the 14 people who received the highest dose suffered severe side effects, but the company has decided to stop testing that dose.</p><p>Fauci said the side-effects were normal and not a cause for concern, but other experts disagreed.</p><p>"Man, that is a lot of adverse events," Tony Moody, a doctor and researcher at the Duke Human Vaccine Institute, told Bloomberg.</p><p>However, Moody also said the amount of antibodies produced was "really encouraging."</p>
<p>The vaccine's safety and effectiveness cannot truly be assessed until a larger study is conducted, University of Pennsylvania infectious disease expert Dr. Paul Offit told The New York Times.</p><p>"[I]t's reading the tea leaves," he said. "You just don't know anything until you do a Phase 3 trial."</p><p>Moderna's Phase 3 trial is set to begin July 27 with 30,000 participants, half of whom will receive a placebo. It should be finished by late October, but it is unclear if the company will know if the vaccine works by then, since it has to prove participants are less likely to contract the virus. If the vaccine does work, Moderna said it would be able to manufacture between 500 million and one billion of the 100-microgram doses a year starting in 2021, Reuters reported.</p>
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‘Among the Most Ruinous Presidential Decisions in Recent History’: Trump Begins WHO Withdrawal
08 July
Health + Wellness
Trump sits during a meeting about safely reopening schools during the coronavirus pandemic on July 7, 2020, in Washington, DC. JIM WATSON / AFP via Getty Images
The Trump administration began the formal process of withdrawing from the World Health Organization (WHO), a White House official said Tuesday, even as coronavirus cases continue to surge in the country.
<p>President <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/donald-trump" target="_self">Donald Trump</a> first began attacking the WHO's handling of the new coronavirus in April, when he made the decision to <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/trump-who-funding-coronavirus-2645722550.html" target="_self">halt funding</a>. But <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/public-health" target="_self">public health</a> experts and Congresspeople from both sides of the aisle say leaving the organization will make Americans, and people around the world, less safe in the midst of a pandemic that has sickened more than 11 million people and killed more than 544,000, according to Wednesday morning <a href="https://coronavirus.jhu.edu/map.html" target="_blank">figures from Johns Hopkins University</a>.</p><p>Lawrence Gostin, who directs the WHO's Collaborating Center on National & Global Health Law, said the withdrawal was "among the most ruinous presidential decisions in recent history," according to a statement reported by <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2020/07/07/world/coronavirus-updates.html?smtyp=cur&smid=fb-#link-7536f61f" target="_blank">The New York Times</a>.</p><p>"It will make Americans less safe during an unprecedented global health crisis," Gostin, who cosigned a <a href="https://oneill.law.georgetown.edu/letter-to-congress-on-who-withdrawal-from-public-health-law-and-international-relations-leaders/" target="_blank">letter</a> to Congress from 750 health and legal experts opposing withdrawal, said. "And it will significantly weaken U.S. influence on W.H.O. reform and international health diplomacy."</p>
<div id="9153d" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="2369a1a33aa73794a885ae5aaa19ad92"><blockquote class="twitter-tweet twitter-custom-tweet" data-twitter-tweet-id="1280600975867289601" data-partner="rebelmouse"><div style="margin:1em 0">Thread explains why US w/drawal from @WHO is unlawful & unethical, among most ruinous presidential decisions in his… https://t.co/BK4SsmPARP</div> — Lawrence Gostin (@Lawrence Gostin)<a href="https://twitter.com/LawrenceGostin/statuses/1280600975867289601">1594154039.0</a></blockquote></div>
<p>Trump first announced he would pull the U.S. from the organization May 29, arguing that it had responded too slowly to the pandemic and was under the "total control" of <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/china" target="_self">China</a>, <a href="https://www.npr.org/sections/goatsandsoda/2020/07/07/888186158/trump-sets-date-to-end-who-membership-over-its-handling-of-virus" target="_blank">NPR reported</a>. But the organization issued its first warning about the new virus Jan. 4, just five days after the first announcement from local health authorities in Wuhan, China, The New York Times pointed out. It had completed a detailed report by the next day.</p><p>In order to withdraw from the WHO, the U.S. must pay any unpaid dues — which stood at $198 million as of June 30 — and give a year's notice, NPR explained. The UN confirmed to reporters that it had received that notice and was checking with the WHO if all the conditions for withdrawal had been met.</p><p>"On 6 July 2020, the United States of America notified the Secretary-General ... of its withdrawal from the World Health Organization, effective on 6 July 2021," UN Secretary-General António Guterres's spokesperson Stéphane Dujarric wrote in an email to reporters.</p>
<p>The yearlong delay means the withdrawal might not go into effect at all if Trump loses to Democratic rival and former Vice President <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/joe-biden" target="_self">Joe Biden</a> in November's Presidential election.</p><p>"Americans are safer when America is engaged in strengthening global health," Biden tweeted in response to the news. "On my first day as President, I will rejoin the<a href="https://twitter.com/WHO" target="_blank"> @WHO</a> and restore our leadership on the world stage."</p>
<div id="bb485" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="eb75831d048b6be5b5be8d58a106cd3e"><blockquote class="twitter-tweet twitter-custom-tweet" data-twitter-tweet-id="1280603719831359489" data-partner="rebelmouse"><div style="margin:1em 0">Americans are safer when America is engaged in strengthening global health. On my first day as President, I will re… https://t.co/qNgyOKHOlE</div> — Joe Biden (@Joe Biden)<a href="https://twitter.com/JoeBiden/statuses/1280603719831359489">1594154693.0</a></blockquote></div>
<p>But it isn't only Democrats speaking out against Trump's withdrawal.</p><p>"I disagree with the president's decision," Sen. Lamar Alexander (R-Tenn.), chairman of the Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee, said in a statement reported by <a href="https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/donald-trump/trump-administration-gives-formal-notice-withdrawal-who-n1233100" target="_blank">NBC News</a>. "Certainly there needs to be a good, hard look at mistakes the World Health Organization might have made in connection with coronavirus, but the time to do that is after the crisis has been dealt with, not in the middle of it. Withdrawing U.S. membership could, among other things, interfere with clinical trials that are essential to the development of <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/vaccines" target="_self">vaccines</a>, which citizens of the United States as well as others in the world need. And withdrawing could make it harder to work with other countries to stop viruses before they get to the United States."</p><p>Public health experts agreed with Alexander's assessment of the risk. In their letter to Congress, the 750 health and legal experts wrote that, by leaving the organization, the U.S. would lose access to the WHO's system for sharing data and vaccines. The U.S. also contributes more funds than anywhere else to the WHO's Health Emergencies Program, which means withdrawal will cost the whole world funds for contact tracing and vaccine development.</p><p>The U.S. historically has contributed around 15 percent of the WHO's overall budget, or $450 million a year. Beyond COVID-19, that money helps fund programs fighting health concerns like polio, malnutrition, HIV/AIDS, malaria and tuberculosis.</p><p>"Pulling funding could reverse hard-won progress and erode the ability of the U.S. to shape and lead policy," the letter writers said.</p>
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Trump Administration Buys up Nearly All the World's Supply of Coronavirus Drug Remdesivir
01 July
Politics
Vice President Mike Pence, Gilead Sciences Chairman and CEO Daniel O'Day and President Donald Trump announce the U.S. approval of remdesivir as a coronavirus treatment on May 1, 2020. Erin Schaff-Pool / Getty Images
The U.S. has bought up almost all of the world's supply of remdesivir, one of only two drugs shown to work against the new coronavirus.
<p>The move is in keeping with the <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/trump-administration" target="_self">Trump administration</a>'s "America first" buzzword towards the global pandemic and raises concerns about what the administration will do if and when a <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/vaccines" target="_self">vaccine</a> is developed.</p><p>"Imagine this was a vaccine," Liverpool University senior visiting research fellow Dr. Andrew Hill told <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2020/jun/30/us-buys-up-world-stock-of-key-covid-19-drug" target="_blank">The Guardian</a>. "That would be a firestorm. But perhaps this is a taste of things to come."</p>
<p>The U.S. has secured more than 500,000 treatment courses of the drug through September, the <a href="https://www.hhs.gov/about/news/2020/06/29/trump-administration-secures-new-supplies-remdesivir-united-states.html?utm_source=TWITTER&utm_medium=TWITTER&utm_content=100001373345722&utm_campaign=Press+Releases+and+Policy+Announcements&linkId=100000013239452" target="_blank">Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) announced Monday</a>. That amounts to 100 percent of drugmaker Gilead's production for July and 90 percent for August and September.</p><p>"President Trump has struck an amazing deal to ensure Americans have access to the first authorized therapeutic for COVID-19," HHS Secretary Alex Azar said in the announcement. "To the extent possible, we want to ensure that any American patient who needs remdesivir can get it. The Trump Administration is doing everything in our power to learn more about life-saving therapeutics for COVID-19 and secure access to these options for the American people."</p>
<div id="099cc" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="8b947dc3407c58c70dc1186e0cb82ee0"><blockquote class="twitter-tweet twitter-custom-tweet" data-twitter-tweet-id="1277608049839083523" data-partner="rebelmouse"><div style="margin:1em 0">NEWS: HHS has announced an agreement to secure large supplies of the drug remdesivir for the United States from Gil… https://t.co/C03DffP4LC</div> — HHS.gov (@HHS.gov)<a href="https://twitter.com/HHSGov/statuses/1277608049839083523">1593440470.0</a></blockquote></div>
<p>But the administration's actions will make it harder for people in other countries to access the drug.</p><p>"They've got access to most of the drug supply [of remdesivir], so there's nothing for Europe," Hill told The Guardian.</p><p>Remdesivir was the first drug to be approved by U.S. licensing authorities to treat the new coronavirus. It is also the only drug currently approved by the European Medicines Agency to treat COVID-19, <a href="https://www.euronews.com/2020/07/01/us-buys-up-world-s-stock-of-key-covid-19-drug-remdesivir" target="_blank">EuroNews pointed out</a>. It has been shown to reduce the amount of time seriously ill coronavirus patients spend in the hospital from 15 to 11 days. It has not been shown to speed the recovery time of people with mild or moderate cases. There is also no evidence that it increases a patient's chance of surviving, according to <a href="https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/us-politics/remdesivir-coronavirus-drug-us-buy-world-supply-price-gilead-a9594781.html" target="_blank">The Independent</a>.</p>
<p>The only other drug shown to work against the virus is a cheap and widely available steroid called <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/coronavirus-drug-steroid-dexamethasone-2646190364.html" target="_self">dexamethasone</a>, which Oxford University researchers said had reduced the risk of death by a third in severely ill patients.</p><p>The administration's buy-up announcement came the same day that Gilead said it was <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/gilead-covid-2646296616.html" target="_self">pricing</a> remdesivir at $3,120 per treatment course. That announcement also earned the Trump administration criticism, this time for failing to push for a cheaper price for a drug whose development was partly publicly funded.</p><p>"Gilead did not make remdesivir alone," <a href="https://www.citizen.org/article/access-to-medicine-learn-more/#:~:text=Overview,based%20and%20other%20drug%20monopolies." target="_blank">Public Citizen's Access to Medicines Program</a> director Peter Maybarduk said. "Public funding was indispensable at each stage, and government scientists led the early drug discovery team. Allowing Gilead to set the terms during a pandemic represents a colossal failure of leadership by the Trump administration."</p>
<p>The decision to buy up most of the drug's supplies through September also follows a pattern of administration actions that have prioritized the U.S. over international cooperation in fighting the virus.</p><p>The German government criticized an alleged attempt in March by the U.S. to secure exclusive rights to a coronavirus vaccine being developed by German company CureVac, EuroNews reported.</p><p>Then, in May, French company Sanofi said the U.S. would have first access to its vaccine if it proved effective, until criticism from the French government prompted the company to reverse its stance, according to The Guardian.</p>
<p>The Trump administration also asked 3M not to sell N95 respirators to Canada, the company claimed in April, as <a href="https://globalnews.ca/news/7127951/us-remdesivir-supply-coronavirus/" target="_blank">Global News reported</a>. The masks were eventually allowed to cross the border.</p><p>The U.S. continues to lead the world in both coronavirus deaths and cases, at more than 2.6 million cases and more than 127,000 deaths, according to Wednesday morning figures from <a href="https://coronavirus.jhu.edu/map.html" target="_blank">Johns Hopkins University</a>. Last week, the country broke its record with a daily tally of 40,000 new cases, according to The Guardian. Texas, Arizona, California and Florida have all been forced to reverse reopening plans.</p><p>"We are going in the wrong direction," National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases director Anthony Fauci told the Senate, as The Guardian reported. "I would not be surprised if we go up to 100,000 a day if this does not turn around."</p>
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Several drugmakers and research institutions are working on vaccines, antivirals and other treatments to help people infected with COVID-19. krisanapong detraphiphat / Moment / Getty Images
Researchers at the pharmaceutical giant Eli Lilly announced yesterday that it will start a trial on a new drug designed specifically for COVID-19, a milestone in the race to stop the infectious disease, according to STAT News.
<p>The early-stage trial is the world's first for an antibody treatment that specifically targets the novel coronavirus. Eli Lilly is one of the several drugmakers and research institutions working on <a href="http://www.ecowatch.com/tag/vaccines" target="_self">vaccines</a>, antivirals and other treatments to help people infected with the virus that has already killed over 370,000 worldwide, as <a href="https://www.reuters.com/article/us-health-coronavirus-lilly-treatments/eli-lilly-starts-human-study-of-potential-covid-19-treatment-idUSKBN23825Y" target="_blank">Reuters</a> reported.</p><p>The treatment that Eli Lilly will test uses an antibody that was developed using a blood sample from one of the first U.S. patients to recover from coronavirus. As <a href="https://thehill.com/policy/healthcare/500425-eli-lilly-gives-patients-first-doses-in-trial-of-new-coronavirus-treatment" target="_blank">The Hill</a> noted, antibody treatments that are developed specifically to fight COVID-19 show promise as effective treatments. The drug remdesivir, which has been touted as a potential treatment, already existed and was repurposed to help patients with COVID-19. In trials so far, it has shown moderate results as it slightly shortened the time that patients were infected.</p>
<p>The first phase of the trial will test if the therapy is safe and well-tolerated with results expected later this month. The first COVID-19 patients to receive the new drug are hospitalized at New York University's Grossman School of Medicine in New York, Cedars-Sinai in Los Angeles, and Emory University in Atlanta, Eli Lilly told <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2020/06/01/health/eli-lilly-antibody-therapy-human-trial-covid-19/index.html" target="_blank">CNN</a>.</p><p>The trial will test for side effects and is only being tested in 32 people at the various sites.</p><p>The company said that if the trial shows the medicine is effective against COVID-19, it may be fast tracked through the regulatory process and be available by the autumn, as <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2020/06/01/health/eli-lilly-antibody-therapy-human-trial-covid-19/index.html" target="_blank">CNN</a> reported.</p>
<p>"Until now, scientists have been trying to repurpose medicines, drugs, that were designed for new diseases to see if they work in COVID-19, but as soon as this epidemic started, we got to work making a new medicine against this disease," said Dr. Dan Skovronsky, Eli Lilly's senior vice president and chief scientific officer, as <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2020/06/01/health/eli-lilly-antibody-therapy-human-trial-covid-19/index.html" target="_blank">CNN</a> reported. "Now we're ready and testing it in patients."</p><p>While Indianapolis-based Eli Lilly is developing the drug, the medicine was actually discovered by a Vancouver company, AbCellera. Other companies are also working on developing an antibody drug, too. Biotech firm Regeneron expects to begin a test soon as does a partnership of Vir Biotechnology and GlaxoSmithKline, according to <a href="https://www.statnews.com/2020/06/01/eli-lilly-begins-first-human-tests-of-an-antibody-drug-against-covid-19/" target="_blank">STAT News</a>.</p><p>"We're not racing against each other," said Skovronsky of the other companies, as <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/r/entryeditor/STAT%20News" target="_self">STAT News</a> reported. "We're racing against the death toll from the virus. I hope there will be multiple successful [antibody drugs]. I expect there will be."</p>
<p>Regeneron Pharmaceuticals has said it plans to start clinical studies in June to test its antibody cocktail treatment and is aiming to have hundreds of thousands of preventative doses available by the end of August, according to <a href="https://www.reuters.com/article/us-health-coronavirus-lilly-treatments/eli-lilly-starts-human-study-of-potential-covid-19-treatment-idUSKBN23825Y" target="_blank">Reuters</a>.</p><p>Lilly's treatment is designed to block it from locking on to human cells, thus neutralizing the virus, as <a href="https://www.reuters.com/article/us-health-coronavirus-lilly-treatments/eli-lilly-starts-human-study-of-potential-covid-19-treatment-idUSKBN23825Y" target="_blank">Reuters</a> reported.</p><p>Scientists at AbCellera and the Vaccine Research Center at the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases selected the specific antibodies they thought would be most potent. Then Lilly scientists engineered the treatment, known as a monoclonal antibody therapy. Monoclonal antibodies have an approach has worked to treat other illnesses. There are monoclonal antibody therapies that treat HIV, asthma, lupus, Ebola and some forms of cancer, as <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2020/06/01/health/eli-lilly-antibody-therapy-human-trial-covid-19/index.html" target="_blank">CNN</a> reported.</p>
<p>"Ultimately, what we would hope is that this would be an effective treatment that would provide very strongly neutralizing antibodies to lower the virus and help patients recover," said Mark Mulligan, the director of the vaccine center at New York University Langone Health, who is one of the doctors working in the study that Lilly is funding, as <a href="https://www.statnews.com/2020/06/01/eli-lilly-begins-first-human-tests-of-an-antibody-drug-against-covid-19/" target="_blank">STAT News</a> reported.</p><p>"It feels it feels like we're making history," said Skovronsky, according to <a href="https://www.statnews.com/2020/06/01/eli-lilly-begins-first-human-tests-of-an-antibody-drug-against-covid-19/" target="_blank">STAT News</a>. Just three months after Covid-19 became a global pandemic, the pharmaceutical industry has been able to confront it, he said. "This has got to be a new phase in the fight."</p>
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A drop in vaccination rates raises concerns that quarantines might lead to an outbreak of preventable diseases, like the measles. yangna / iStock / Getty Images Plus
A new study released by the Centers for Disease Control found that vaccination rates in Michigan for children younger than two have fallen to alarmingly low rates. One of the more eye-popping statistics was that fewer than half of infants five months or younger have received the immunizations that usually start when they're two months old, according to The New York Times.
<p>The rates in Michigan are likely mirrored across the country, as parents nationwide have been reluctant to schedule well visits out of fear of exposure to COVID-19. That means children nationwide have fallen behind on vaccinations for diseases like measles and pertussis, better known as whooping cough, as <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2020/05/18/health/vaccinations-rates-coronavirus.html?action=click&module=Latest&pgtype=Homepage" target="_blank">The New York Times</a> reported.</p><p>In addition to parental fears of coronavirus exposure, the CDC study suggests that stay-at-home orders have also reduced access to doctor offices, as <a href="https://www.reuters.com/article/us-health-coronavirus-usa-children/pandemic-related-vaccination-drop-raises-concern-about-u-s-measles-outbreak-idUSKBN22U2ZY" target="_blank">Reuters</a> reported.</p>
<p>The drop in vaccination rates raises concerns that quarantines might lead to an outbreak of preventable diseases, like the measles. As <a href="https://www.reuters.com/article/us-health-coronavirus-usa-children/pandemic-related-vaccination-drop-raises-concern-about-u-s-measles-outbreak-idUSKBN22U2ZY" target="_blank">Reuters</a> reported, the CDC researchers analyzed the data from vaccine doses given to children at ages one, three, five, seven, 16, 19 and 24 months this year and the prior four years. In the 16-month age group, coverage with all recommended vaccines declined. The rate of measles vaccinations in particular fell to 71 percent this year from 76 percent last year.</p><p>The total number of vaccines given to children under two dropped more than 15 percent compared to the previous two years.</p>
<p>"The observed declines in vaccination coverage might leave young children and communities vulnerable to vaccine-preventable diseases such as measles," the CDC scientists wrote in the <a href="https://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/volumes/69/wr/mm6919e2.htm?s_cid=mm6919e2_w" target="_blank">report</a>, according to <a href="https://www.reuters.com/article/us-health-coronavirus-usa-children/pandemic-related-vaccination-drop-raises-concern-about-u-s-measles-outbreak-idUSKBN22U2ZY" target="_blank">Reuters</a>. "If measles vaccination coverage of 90%-95% ... is not achieved, measles outbreaks can occur."</p><p>Just as the coronavirus is disproportionally affecting poor and minority communities, the poor are receiving the fewest vaccines, according to the study. The report found that up-to-date vaccination coverage was lower for children enrolled in Medicaid, the federal government's health insurance program for the poor, than for those who were not enrolled, according to <a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2020/05/18/coronavirus-cdc-warns-of-possible-measles-outbreak-as-vaccinations-for-children-fall-during-pandemic.html" target="_blank">CNBC</a>.</p>
<p>Angela Shen, a research scientist at Children's Hospital of Philadelphia and the co-author of the study, said the falling rates in Michigan were troubling and quite likely representative of nationwide trends, as <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2020/05/18/health/vaccinations-rates-coronavirus.html?action=click&module=Latest&pgtype=Homepage" target="_blank">The New York Times</a> reported.</p><p>"Now, you're not just dealing with Covid," she said, to <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2020/05/18/health/vaccinations-rates-coronavirus.html?action=click&module=Latest&pgtype=Homepage" target="_blank">The New York Times</a>. "Now you're contending with common vaccine-preventable diseases."</p><p>It's not just the U.S. that is seeing a dip. At the end of April, the <a href="https://www.who.int/news-room/detail/23-04-2020-hard-fought-gains-in-immunization-coverage-at-risk-without-critical-health-services-warns-who" target="_blank">World Health Organization warned</a> that mass vaccination programs that had been suspended in developing countries put kids at risk of contracting measles or polio, as <a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2020/05/18/coronavirus-cdc-warns-of-possible-measles-outbreak-as-vaccinations-for-children-fall-during-pandemic.html" target="_blank">CNBC</a> reported.</p>
<p>"Disease outbreaks must not remain a threat when we have safe and effective vaccines to protect us," said Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, WHO director-general, in a <a href="https://www.who.int/news-room/detail/23-04-2020-hard-fought-gains-in-immunization-coverage-at-risk-without-critical-health-services-warns-who" target="_blank">WHO statement</a>. "While the world strives to develop a new vaccine for COVID-19 at record speed, we must not risk losing the fight to protect everyone, everywhere against vaccine-preventable diseases. These diseases will come roaring back if we do not vaccinate."</p><p>"It's a really scary thought," said Matthew L. Boulton, a professor of epidemiology and preventive medicine at the University of Michigan, to <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2020/05/18/health/vaccinations-rates-coronavirus.html?action=click&module=Latest&pgtype=Homepage" target="_blank">The New York Times</a>. "We've made tremendous progress around the world, especially in many low-income countries. This literally could set us back years in our control of vaccine-preventable diseases, in both high- and low-income countries."</p>
<p>Since immunization requires in-person visits, the CDC study recommended several to keep the services going, including offering specific clinics or rooms for child vaccination, reducing the number of patients on site at a given time, having patients receive vaccinations from their vehicles in the parking lot and having providers work with families to identify children missing recommended vaccinations, according to <a href="https://www.reuters.com/article/us-health-coronavirus-usa-children/pandemic-related-vaccination-drop-raises-concern-about-u-s-measles-outbreak-idUSKBN22U2ZY" target="_blank">Reuters</a>.</p><p>Shen would like to see parents taking their kids for immunizations as the country starts to reopen.</p><p>"You are prone to potentially seeing measles outbreaks as communities and jurisdictions in Michigan — and arguably in other parts of the country — open up," she said to <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2020/05/18/health/vaccinations-rates-coronavirus.html?action=click&module=Latest&pgtype=Homepage" target="_blank">The New York Times</a>. "This is a big week for opening up, and public health wants you to come in and get your shots."</p>
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Scientist Xinhua Yan works in Moderna's lab in Cambridge, Massachusetts on Feb. 28, 2020. David L. Ryan / The Boston Globe via Getty Images
A coronavirus vaccine tested on human volunteers appears to be safe and produce antibodies against the virus, Cambridge, Massachusetts-based biotech company Moderna announced Monday.
<p>The promising results are from Phase 1 of a clinical trial led by the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), part of the National Institutes of Health (NIH). They have not been peer reviewed, and the vaccine now has to pass on to further tests of more people. But Moderna chief medical officer Dr. Tal Zaks <a href="https://edition.cnn.com/2020/05/18/health/coronavirus-vaccine-moderna-early-results/index.html" target="_blank">told CNN</a> that, if those studies go well, it could be ready by January 2021.</p><p>"This is absolutely good news and news that we think many have been waiting for for quite some time," Zaks said.</p>
<div id="09c52" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="bb0503bf8fdfab441549f2950b94aa7a"><blockquote class="twitter-tweet twitter-custom-tweet" data-twitter-tweet-id="1262363745688457216" data-partner="rebelmouse"><div style="margin:1em 0">Summary of our SARS-CoV-2 #vaccine (mRNA-1273) interim Phase 1 data. Read more: https://t.co/aIq34ullAh #mRNA https://t.co/BVbYuWTkOy</div> — Moderna (@Moderna)<a href="https://twitter.com/moderna_tx/statuses/1262363745688457216">1589805945.0</a></blockquote></div>
<p>The trial tested 45 people aged 18 to 55, according to Moderna and <a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2020/05/18/moderna-reports-positive-data-on-early-stage-coronavirus-vaccine-trial.html" target="_blank">CNBC</a>. Three groups of 15 received either a 25, 100 or 250 microgram dose two times, around 28 days apart. Participants who received the lowest dose produced antibodies comparable to those produced by people who recover from the virus, while those who received the medium dose produced substantially more antibodies than recovered COVID-19 patients.</p><p>What's more, the first eight participants to receive the low and medium doses produced neutralizing antibodies at levels comparable to people who have recovered from COVID-19. These are the kinds of antibodies that actually bind the virus and stop it from attacking other cells, CNN explained.</p>
<p>Data on neutralizing antibodies for the rest of the participants and any data for the highest dose was not yet available, according to CNBC.</p><p>So far, reported side effects have been mild. One of the volunteers in the low and medium dose groups experienced redness and soreness at the injection site on their arm, <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2020/05/18/health/coronavirus-vaccine-moderna.html?campaign_id=51&emc=edit_MBE_p_20200519&instance_id=18599&nl=morning-briefing&regi_id=88631294&section=topNews&segment_id=28382&te=1&user_id=d8eb7cee9d3c5ab39515239b6ec54d19" target="_blank">The New York Times reported</a>. In the high dose group, three participants experienced headaches, muscle aches and fevers that dissipated after a day. However, Zaks said the high dose would no longer be studied. This has less to do with its side effects than the fact that it is not needed to stimulate an immune response.</p>
<p>"The lower the dose, the more vaccine we'll be able to make," Zaks told The New York Times. "Demand is going to far outstrip supply so I think there is an ethical obligation to go with the lowest dose you can so you can make as much vaccine as possible."</p><p>Moderna's vaccine is one of more than 100 in development and one of eight being tested on humans, but it is the first to release data on a human trial, according to CNBC. It is necessary to develop multiple vaccines, The New York Times explained, because global demand is likely to far exceed what any one company can produce.</p>
<p>So far, the new coronavirus has sickened more than 4.8 million people worldwide and killed 318,833, according to Tuesday morning figures from <a href="https://coronavirus.jhu.edu/map.html" target="_blank">Johns Hopkins University</a>. It has also caused global economic fallout as countries around the world have locked down to prevent its spread, and news of the vaccine helped Wall Street to have its best day in weeks Monday, according to The New York Times.</p><p>The Moderna vaccine, officially called mRNA-1273, uses genetic material called messenger RNA (mRNA). The New York Times explained how it works:</p><blockquote>The idea behind Moderna's vaccine is to inject the mRNA for part of the spike protein and have it slip into the cells of a healthy person, which then follow its instruction and crank out the viral protein. That protein should act as a red flag for the immune system, stimulating it to produce antibodies that will prevent infection by blocking the action of the spike if the person is exposed to the virus.</blockquote><p>Moderna has several mRNA vaccines in development, but none have yet gone on the market.</p><p>However, there is a broader question of how useful any vaccine will be against the new coronavirus, since scientists <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/get-coronavirus-twice-2645950946.html" target="_self">don't yet know</a> if a person who recovers from the virus is immune from getting it again, and therefore whether a vaccine will work.</p><p>"[T]he truth is, we don't know that yet," Zaks told CNN. "We are going to have to conduct formal efficacy trials where you vaccinate many, many people, and then you monitor them in the ensuing months to make sure they don't get sick."</p>
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Mike Ryan speaks at a WHO media briefing on COVID-19 on May 12, 2020. World Health Organization / YouTube
Many people are anxious to know when life will return to normal after the emergence of the new coronavirus, but a top World Health Organization (WHO) official warned that we may never be rid of the new disease.
<p>"This virus may become just another endemic virus in our communities, and this virus may never go away," WHO health emergencies program leader Mike Ryan said at a Wednesday news briefing reported by <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2020/05/13/world/coronavirus-world-news-updates.html?campaign_id=51&emc=edit_MBE_p_20200514&instance_id=18461&nl=morning-briefing&regi_id=88631294&searchResultPosition=5&section=topNews&segment_id=27736&te=1&user_id=d8eb7cee9d3c5ab39515239b6ec54d19#link-5459755e" target="_blank">The New York Times</a>. "H.I.V. has not gone away but we've come to terms with the virus and we have found the therapies and we have found the prevention methods, and people don't feel as scared as they did before."</p>
<div id="f62c2" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="a5406013ed9957008d5d4b31e584d77d"><blockquote class="twitter-tweet twitter-custom-tweet" data-twitter-tweet-id="1260591340393357312" data-partner="rebelmouse"><div style="margin:1em 0">Media briefing on #COVID19 with @DrTedros https://t.co/euggX435FQ</div> — World Health Organization (WHO) (@World Health Organization (WHO))<a href="https://twitter.com/WHO/statuses/1260591340393357312">1589383370.0</a></blockquote></div>
<p>Many people have pinned their hopes on a <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/vaccines" target="_self">vaccine</a>, and there are currently more than 100 in development, according to <a href="https://www.reuters.com/article/us-health-coronavirus-who-briefing-idUSKBN22P2IJ?utm_campaign=trueAnthem%3A+Trending+Content&utm_medium=trueAnthem&utm_source=facebook&fbclid=IwAR12WKCibU4_m6p9eVtvEDqpqfSVk8QWeKZid6IEdC5Cy6aYhN4gBJoVi0s" target="_blank">Reuters</a>. But health experts have said that it can be difficult to find vaccines for coronaviruses, and Ryan described a vaccine as a "massive moonshot."</p><p>He also noted that many diseases for which vaccines exist continue to spread, such as <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/measles" target="_self">measles</a>.</p><p>"[W]e have some perfectly effective vaccines on this planet that we have not used effectively for diseases we could have eradicated," he said, according to The New York Times.</p>
<p>He also said that it could take a long time for anything approaching herd immunity to develop, since relatively few people had caught the virus.</p><p>"I think it is important we are realistic and I don't think anyone can predict when this disease will disappear," he said, according to Reuters. "I think there are no promises in this and there are no dates. This disease may settle into a long problem, or it may not be."</p><p>WHO Director General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus also spoke and urged everyone to do all they could to fight the spread of the virus that causes COVID-19.</p><p>"The trajectory is in our hands, and it's everybody's business, and we should all contribute to stop this pandemic," he said.</p>
<p>At the same time, the agency warned of a mental health crisis as people around the world deal with the anxiety and loneliness caused by the disease and subsequent social distancing measures.</p><p>"The isolation, the fear, the uncertainty, the economic turmoil – they all cause or could cause psychological distress," WHO mental health department director Devora Kestel said, as <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/may/14/global-report-who-says-covid-19-may-never-go-and-warns-of-mental-health-crisis" target="_blank">The Guardian reported</a>.</p><p>In a report to the UN, her department warned of serious mental illness among children, young people and medical workers.</p><p>"The mental health and wellbeing of whole societies have been severely impacted by this crisis and are a priority to be addressed urgently," she said.</p><p>As of Thursday morning, the new coronavirus has sickened more than 4.3 million people worldwide and killed almost 300,000, according to <a href="https://coronavirus.jhu.edu/map.html" target="_blank">data provided by Johns Hopkins</a>. The U.S. and Russia currently lead the world for infections, while the U.S. and the UK have the highest death tolls.</p>
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A widely circulated video makes unsubstantiated medical claims about the coronavirus. m-gucci / iStock / Getty Images Plus
Facebook, YouTube and Vimeo are among the companies scrambling to remove a coronavirus conspiracy video called 'Plandemic,' as The Washington Post reported.
<p>The widely circulated video makes unsubstantiated medical claims about the coronavirus and it features Judy Mikovits, a discredited scientist and activist in the anti-vaccine campaign.</p><p>In the 26-minute video, which is billed as an extended trailer for a longer documentary that the filmmakers say "will expose the scientific and political elite who run the scam that is our global health system," Mikovits contends that wearing masks activates the coronavirus within people, without providing evidence, and criticizes orders to stay away from beaches, as <a href="https://www.reuters.com/article/us-health-coronavirus-tech-video/facebook-youtube-remove-plandemic-video-with-unsubstantiated-coronavirus-claims-idUSKBN22K077" target="_blank">Reuters</a> reported.</p><p>"Suggesting that wearing a mask can make you sick could lead to imminent harm, so we're removing the video," Facebook said, according to <a href="https://www.reuters.com/article/us-health-coronavirus-tech-video/facebook-youtube-remove-plandemic-video-with-unsubstantiated-coronavirus-claims-idUSKBN22K077" target="_blank">Reuters</a>.</p>
<p>A YouTube spokesperson said the company removes "content that includes medically unsubstantiated diagnostic advice for covid-19," which includes the "Plandemic" video. A Vimeo spokesperson said the company "stands firm in keeping our platform safe from content that spreads harmful and misleading health information. The video in question has been removed by our Trust & Safety team for violating these very policies," as <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2020/05/07/plandemic-youtube-facebook-vimeo-remove/" target="_blank">The Washington Post</a> reported.</p><p>Despite efforts to remove it, changing the name slightly, misspelling search terms, or altering the video slightly has allowed plenty of lengthy clips to pass through the AI filters, as <a href="https://techcrunch.com/2020/05/07/plandemic-video-judy-mikovits/" target="_blank">TechCrunch</a> reported.</p><p>The video uses high-production value to cater to a number of topics that strike a chord with online conspiracy-theorists, filtering most claims through a lens that vaccines are simply a money-making plan put forth by greedy pharmaceutical companies and they cause more harm than good, as <a href="https://techcrunch.com/2020/05/07/plandemic-video-judy-mikovits/" target="_blank">TechCrunch</a> reported.</p>
<p>Plandemic videos racked up a combined 4.7 million views on YouTube on Monday and Tuesday, according to BuzzSumo, a social media tool, as <a href="https://www.cnet.com/news/facebook-youtube-and-twitter-grapple-with-viral-plandemic-conspiracy-video/" target="_blank">CNET</a> reported.</p><p>In the video Mikovits, who has said Dr. Anthony Fauci should be charged with treason, vociferously criticized the nation's leading infectious disease doctor and also suggested the virus had been engineered, saying it wasn't a "natural occurrence." As <a href="https://www.cnet.com/news/facebook-youtube-and-twitter-grapple-with-viral-plandemic-conspiracy-video/" target="_blank">CNET</a> reported, scientists widely believe <a href="https://www.factcheck.org/2020/02/baseless-conspiracy-theories-claim-new-coronavirus-was-bioengineered/" target="_blank">the virus jumped from animals to human beings</a>, and the U.S. intelligence community took the unusual step of publicly saying it believed the virus wasn't "<a href="https://www.dni.gov/index.php/newsroom/press-releases/item/2112-intelligence-community-statement-on-origins-of-covid-19" target="_blank">manmade or genetically modified</a>."</p>
<p>According to TechCrunch, "To the uninformed viewer, Mikovits might appear to ably address scientific-sounding topics, but her own scientific credentials are extremely dubious. In 2009, Mikovits authored a study on chronic fatigue syndrome that was <a href="http://retractionwatch.com/2011/12/22/chronic-fatigue-syndrome-xmrv-paper-retracted-by-science-completely-this-time/" target="_blank">retracted</a> by the journal <em>Science</em> two years later when an audit found "evidence of poor quality control" in the experiment and the results could not be replicated in subsequent studies. That event and her subsequent firing from a research institute appear to have kicked off her more recent turn as an anti-vaccine crusader, conspiracist and author."</p><p>Her claim in the movie that she was arrested for discovering a retrovirus that was transmitted through vaccines was thoroughly debunked by <a href="https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/scientist-vaccine-jailed/?fbclid=IwAR3o4wl1u88oaA5sq9MKMW1o2-AniwH-NXEZYRlP1PXmdA4v41glTZGakj4" target="_blank">Snopes</a>.</p>
<p>As <a href="https://www.technologyreview.com/2020/05/07/1001469/facebook-youtube-plandemic-covid-misinformation/" target="_blank">MIT Technology Review</a> noted, when YouTube started to remove "Plandemic" from its platform, supporters took to Twitter with claims of unfair censorship. The documentary then became a trending hashtag on Thursday, driving even more attention, outrage and media coverage to it.</p><p>Mikovits has tweeted a video in which she urged President Donald Trump to end the lockdown and stop requiring people to wear masks, calling the face coverings "dangerous." Twitter told <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2020/05/07/plandemic-youtube-facebook-vimeo-remove/" target="_blank">The Washington Post</a> that it would allow that video, but it did remove #PlagueofCorruption and #PlandemicMovie from its searches and trends sections.</p>
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World leaders met in a virtual summit on Monday and pledged $8 billion to ramp up efforts to find a vaccine and treatments for the novel coronavirus, but the U.S. was noticeably absent from the summit, as The Washington Post reported.
<p>The European Union-organized fundraiser brought together leaders from around the world, including Japan, Canada, Australia and Norway, to fund laboratories that have shown some promise in developing a vaccine. There were pledges from prime ministers, presidents, a king and even the pop star Madonna. The <a href="http://www.ecowatch.com/trump-watch/" target="_self">Trump</a> administration said it is already spending billions for research in the U.S., according to <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2020/05/05/world/coronavirus-news.html#link-4eff8309" target="_blank">The New York Times</a>.</p><p>The administration's disinterest in international cooperation has alarmed global health officials and diplomats seeking a worldwide effort to end the pandemic that has crippled global markets and killed more than 250,000 people. The concerns are growing that President Trump has squabbled with China over the origin of the disease and cut off U.S. support to the World Health Organization, as <a href="https://www.politico.com/news/2020/05/03/coronavirus-vaccine-trump-world-brawl-230142" target="_blank">POLITICO</a> reported.</p>
<p>"The more we pull together and share our expertise, the faster our scientists will succeed," said UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson in the conference, according to <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/europe/the-world-comes-together-for-a-virtual-vaccine-summit-the-us-is-conspicuously-absent/2020/05/04/ac5b6754-8a5c-11ea-80df-d24b35a568ae_story.html" target="_blank">The Washington Post</a>. "The race to discover the vaccine to defeat this virus is not a competition between countries but the most urgent shared endeavor of our lifetimes."</p><p>Last month, Johnson was rushed to an intensive care unit as he suffered from COVID-19 symptoms.</p><p>The various leaders on the call pledged as much as they could and took a few moments to boast of their efforts to stop the pandemic. There was a wide range of pledges from Romania, which pledged $200,000, to Canada's $850 million pledge. The two largest donations were from the European Union and Norway. They both pledged $1.1 billion, or 1 billion euros, as <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2020/05/05/world/coronavirus-news.html#link-4eff8309" target="_blank">The New York Times</a> reported.</p>
<p>Just as wealthier nations are buying up ventilators, tests, and personal protective equipment, leaving poorer countries woefully underprepared for a health crisis, the U.S. strategy of not participating in international efforts raises concerns that a vaccine will be hoarded by a wealthy nation.</p><p>"The worst situation would be, if when these tools are available, they go to the highest bidder — that would be terrible for the world," said Melinda Gates, who, along with husband, Bill, has devoted billions to health research, as <a href="https://www.politico.com/news/2020/05/03/coronavirus-vaccine-trump-world-brawl-230142" target="_blank">POLITICO</a> reported. "Covid-19 anywhere is Covid-19 everywhere. And that's why it's got to take global cooperation."</p>
<p>"It's the first time that I can think of where you have had a major international pledging conference for a global crisis of this kind of importance, and the U.S. is just absent," said Jeremy Konyndyk, who worked on the Ebola response in the Obama administration, as <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/europe/the-world-comes-together-for-a-virtual-vaccine-summit-the-us-is-conspicuously-absent/2020/05/04/ac5b6754-8a5c-11ea-80df-d24b35a568ae_story.html" target="_blank">The Washington Post</a> reported.<br></p><p>He added that since nobody knows which research arm will succeed in a vaccine, it's crucial to back multiple simultaneous efforts.</p><p>"Against that kind of uncertainty we should be trying to position ourselves to be supporting — and potentially benefiting from — all of them," said Konyndyk to <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/europe/the-world-comes-together-for-a-virtual-vaccine-summit-the-us-is-conspicuously-absent/2020/05/04/ac5b6754-8a5c-11ea-80df-d24b35a568ae_story.html" target="_blank">The Washington Post</a>. "And instead we seem to be just focused on trying to win the race, in the hopes we happen to get one of the successful ones."</p><p>The Trump administration declined to explain why they would not take part in the global effort, but they did look to boast about their own efforts to support vaccine research worldwide, including $2.6 billion through the Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority, an arm of the Health and Human Services Department. Jim Richardson, the State Department's director of foreign assistance, added that American companies had also provided $7 billion toward a coronavirus vaccine and treatment, according to <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2020/05/05/world/coronavirus-news.html#link-4eff8309" target="_blank">The New York Times</a>.</p>
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The first peer-reviewed research into a promising coronavirus vaccine was published Thursday. Javier Zayas Photography / Moment / Getty Images
The world has reached a grim milestone with the number of confirmed coronavirus cases reported by the Johns Hopkins University tracker passing one million.
<p>But there is hope in the fight against the deadly pandemic as well: The first peer-reviewed research into a new <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/vaccines" target="_self">vaccine</a> was published in Lancet publication <a href="https://www.thelancet.com/pdfs/journals/ebiom/PIIS2352-3964(20)30118-3.pdf" target="_blank">eBioMedicine</a> Thursday, and it shows promise.</p><p>"Our ability to rapidly develop this vaccine was a result of <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/scientists" target="_self">scientists</a> with expertise in diverse areas of research working together with a common goal," co-senior author and dermatology chair at the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine Louis Falo said in a <a href="https://www.pittwire.pitt.edu/news/covid-19-vaccine-candidate-shows-promise-first-peer-reviewed-research" target="_blank">press release</a>.</p>
<div id="fc8a0" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="8aede4b627c69f3e0373670b9e3ceb06"><blockquote class="twitter-tweet twitter-custom-tweet" data-twitter-tweet-id="1245749335964467206" data-partner="rebelmouse"><div style="margin:1em 0">#ICYMI: Scientists from @PittDeptofMed announced a highly scalable potential vaccine for the new coronavirus behind… https://t.co/ea2ACW4as2</div> — University of Pittsburgh (@University of Pittsburgh)<a href="https://twitter.com/PittTweet/statuses/1245749335964467206">1585844761.0</a></blockquote></div>
<p>The University of Pittsburgh researchers said the new vaccine generated enough antibodies in mice to "neutralize" the virus that causes COVID-19 within two weeks of being administered, <a href="https://www.independent.co.uk/news/science/coronavirus-vaccine-pittsburgh-university-lancet-study-covid-pandemic-a9442536.html" target="_blank">The Independent reported</a>.</p><p>This isn't the first coronavirus vaccine in development. Another vaccine skipped animal testing and began human trials in Seattle in March. Dozens of other research teams are also working on vaccines. But this is the first of these vaccines to be peer reviewed, which means that the research behind it was published after scientists at other institutions looked it over.</p><p>The reason the Pittsburgh researchers were able to reach this step so quickly is that they had previously worked on two other deadly coronaviruses: the viruses that cause Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) and Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS), <a href="https://in.reuters.com/article/us-health-coronavirus-vaccine-candidate/potential-covid-19-vaccine-shows-promise-in-mouse-study-idINKBN21K2BW" target="_blank">Reuters reported</a>.</p>
<p>Studying those viruses, which are closely related to the virus known as SARS-COV-2, taught the researchers that a certain protein called a "spike" protein was key to creating immunity against the disease.</p><p>"We knew exactly where to fight this new virus," co-senior author and associate professor of surgery at the Pitt School of Medicine Andrea Gambotto said in the press release.</p><p>Gambotto said the experience was an object lesson in the value of maintaining <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/public-health" target="_self">public health</a> research.</p>
<p>"That's why it's important to fund vaccine research," Gambotto said. "You never know where the next pandemic will come from."</p><p>It is too soon to know how long the SARS-COV-2 antibodies will last in mice, but the mice the researchers vaccinated for MERS retained their immunity for at least a year, and the mice injected with the new vaccine seem to be showing similar antibody levels. The researchers are now applying for permission from the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to start human testing within a few months. Clinical testing typically takes a year or longer, but Falo said there was a chance they could speed the process up.</p><p>If the vaccine pans out, the researchers say it is scalable. It also might be less intimidating to anyone with a fear of needles.</p><p>That's because the researchers administer it via a small Band-Aid-like patch containing 400 tiny needles that dissolve into the skin as they deliver the spike protein.</p>"We developed this to build on the original scratch method used to deliver the smallpox vaccine to the skin, but as a high-tech version that is more efficient and reproducible patient to patient," Falo explained in the press release. "And it's actually pretty painless — it feels kind of like Velcro."
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Hospital employees wearing protection masks and gear tend to patients at a temporary emergency structure in Lombardy, Italy on March 13, 2020. MIGUEL MEDINA / AFP via Getty Images
By Alexander Freund
Sepsis is a life-threatening organ dysfunction caused by the body's immune system overreacting in response to an infection. This overactive, toxic response can lead to tissue damage, multiple organ failure and death.
<p>A <a href="https://www.thelancet.com/action/showPdf?pii=S0140-6736%2819%2933065-X" target="_blank">comprehensive study</a> on the frequency of sepsis and sepsis deaths was published in The Lancet in mid-January 2020. Nearly a quarter of all deaths worldwide are attributable to sepsis every year, according to the study.</p><p>In 2017 there were 48.9 million sepsis cases and 11 million sepsis deaths worldwide. In 2015, 75,000 sepsis deaths were documented in Germany alone — more deaths than from colon, breast, lung and prostate cancer combined. Around 15% of patients who died in hospital in Germany in 2015 died of sepsis.</p>
<p>Despite the high incidence of sepsis, knowledge about sepsis prevention and early detection in Germany is significantly lower than in comparable industrialized countries. For this reason, the <a href="https://www.sepsis-stiftung.eu/" target="_blank">German Sepsis Foundation</a> advises that "all patients at risk should follow the Robert Koch Institute's call to be vaccinated against the influenza virus and against pneumococcus."</p><p>That is especially the case for those with weakened immune systems: Newborns and <a href="https://www.dw.com/en/coronavirus-who-is-particularly-at-risk-and-why/a-52710881" target="_blank">elderly people with a history of illnesses</a> such as diabetes, cancer, chronic diseases or AIDS.</p>
<img lazy-loadable="true" src="https://assets.rebelmouse.io/eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.eyJpbWFnZSI6Imh0dHBzOi8vYXNzZXRzLnJibC5tcy8yMjg3ODYwNC9vcmlnaW4ucG5nIiwiZXhwaXJlc19hdCI6MTYxMTY5NzE0NH0.ONb6poa09nVjpQZ-UHgtGp7ZC-PTv0tYgswm_mt4TXg/img.png?width=980" id="ed5e7" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="b725e1788cb4055d14acb013185bc311" data-rm-shortcode-name="rebelmouse-image" />
<h3>How Does Sepsis Occur and How Do I Recognize It?</h3><p>Viruses, bacteria, fungi or parasites — sepsis can be triggered by a variety of pathogens. The causes of sepsis are usually pneumonia, wound infections, urinary tract infections or infections in the abdominal cavity.</p><p>In addition to the known seasonal influenza viruses, other viruses that are highly infectious, such as <a href="https://www.dw.com/en/coronavirus-symptoms/a-52233885" target="_blank">coronaviruses</a>, Ebola and yellow fever viruses, dengue, swine flu or bird flu viruses can also cause sepsis.</p><p>In addition to the typical signs of infection, there are several stand out symptoms that usually indicate possible sepsis — for example, a drop in blood pressure with a simultaneous rise in heart rate, fever, rapid, heavy breathing, an unusually strong feeling of illness and sudden confusion. Septic shock is the most severe stage and is diagnosed when your blood pressure drops to dangerous levels. In the event of such alarm signals, emergency care should be sought immediately.</p>
<h3>How Is Sepsis Treated?</h3><p>Although sepsis is common in hospitals, it's often detected very late. When diagnosed, sepsis is immediately treated as an emergency. The blood is examined, a broad-spectrum antibiotic is administered, and sufficient blood circulation and ventilation are ensured. As a precautionary measure, many sepsis patients are "protectionally incubated," i.e. put into an artificial coma.</p><p>Ventilation equipment and/or circulatory therapy, kidney replacement therapy or coagulation therapy are used to support the patient's organs in particular.</p><p>Such an intensive care treatment is highly complex and costly. In the <a href="https://www.sepsis.org/sepsis-basics/prevention/" target="_blank">U.S.</a> alone, around 24 billion dollars (€21.5 billion) are spent annually in hospitals for sepsis treatment.</p><p>More important than the costs, however, are the available capacities: existing intensive care beds should therefore primarily be available to those who are critically ill with the <a href="https://www.dw.com/en/how-does-testing-for-the-coronavirus-work/a-52633616" target="_blank">new coronavirus</a> or other pathogens and who urgently need respiratory care, for example due to sepsis.</p>
<h3>Long-Term Consequences</h3><p>In half of the patients, sepsis occurs without serious consequences. In the other half, infections, kidney failure or cardiovascular problems, i.e. cardiovascular diseases, can recur about three months after discharge.</p><p>In addition, many sepsis patients suffer severe, long-term functional, cognitive or psychological consequences such as paralysis, depression or anxiety disorders.</p><p>It is therefore of central importance that sepsis is prevented if possible or diagnosed as early as possible. The earlier the disease is diagnosed, the higher the chances of survival and therapy.</p>
<img lazy-loadable="true" src="https://assets.rebelmouse.io/eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.eyJpbWFnZSI6Imh0dHBzOi8vYXNzZXRzLnJibC5tcy8yMjg3ODYxMS9vcmlnaW4ucG5nIiwiZXhwaXJlc19hdCI6MTYzNzM5MzUxN30.YAJwQ9fN5JguNGfvy2WNbjVVJACXJAV_fQ8SpZm4DSc/img.png?width=980" id="8c43c" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="79678901507cf1ace29af0dfd2a88bc6" data-rm-shortcode-name="rebelmouse-image" />
<p><em>Reposted with permission from <a href="https://www.dw.com/en/sepsis-a-common-cause-of-death-from-coronavirus/a-52758193?maca=en-VAM_volltext_ecowatch-28485-html-copypaste,%20Possible%20title:%20Sepsis%20-%20A%20common%20Cause%20of%20Death%20from%20Coronavirus.%20What%20is%20Sepsis?" target="_blank">DW</a>.</em></p>
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