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Johnson and Johnson announced today that its coronavirus vaccine showed significant efficacy in clinical trials for preventing COVID-19. The vaccine trial was designed to measure how well the vaccine prevented COVID-19 related illness, four weeks after a single shot. It was 66% effective overall at preventing moderate and severe disease, a result that covers aContinue reading “Another day, another COVID-19 vaccine!”

Novavax, a small Maryland company that has floundered in product development over its 30 years of existence, revealed data from the U.K. trial of its COVID-19 vaccine today. The vaccine was 89% effective in preventing clinical disease from COVID-19, nearly as effective as the leading RNA vaccines from BioNTech-Pfizer and Moderna. This provides another option forContinue reading “Novavax data shows its vaccine is successful against traditional COVID-19 strains.”

As I suggested last evening, licensing deals are being done to increase production of the highly effective COVID-19 vaccines.  Sanofi agreed to produce millions of doses of BioNTech SE and Pfizer Inc.’s coronavirus vaccine in an unusual collaboration to speed vaccination efforts. Sanofi will provide access to a production facility in Frankfurt, which will start to deliver millionsContinue reading “Two Revealing Updates–at least one is positive!”

Many individuals have been discussing the need to immunize every human on the planet to ensure that we end the COVID-19 pandemic. This is to make sure there are no humans left susceptible to this virus that could produce mutant strains prolonging the global infection.  While that is true, there is another factor potentially more importantContinue reading “Why do we need to provide the best COVID-19 vaccines to developing countries? To save all humanity.”

There was a significant piece of good news today when Moderna announced that its studies have shown that the immunity produced by their vaccine would protect against both the United Kingdom and South African variants of the coronavirus. Both these variants have changes in the spike protein targeted by the vaccines. While some variations areContinue reading “Moderna’s vaccine protects against variant COVID-19 viruses, and the company will make a “Booster” shot to protect against all future SARS-CoV-2!”

Yesterday I reported the potential of increasing the number of Pfizer doses available by 20% using vaccine syringes that had little dead space. This allowed the possibility of getting six doses of Pfizer coronavirus vaccine from a vial that was labeled as having only five. Unfortunately, Pfizer realized about a month ago that there wasContinue reading “I am forced to reverse my hopeful post about additional doses of Pfizer’s vaccine.”

One of the most mundane but important aspects of giving a vaccine is getting the right amount of vaccine out of a vial and into a patient. This requires drawing up the vaccine into a syringe and then injecting the appropriate amount of material into the individual. If too little vaccine is injected from theContinue reading “How we could immediately get a 20% increase in the amount of Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine.”

I got the following comment after my recent post suggesting the COVID-19 vaccines were being undersold. “But I don’t want it! I don’t feel the need for it. I’m a healthy female- I do not want to take it and the Government or airlines should not dictate I take it. They don’t check if someoneContinue reading “Should you be forced to take the COVID-19 vaccine?”

I have been traveling, but wanted to alert you to a terrific article on the recent virus variants by Lawrence Wright in the New Yorker. The bottom line though, as you have read frequently in this blog, is that the best way to prevent the evolution of SARS-CoV-2 and prevent a virus that escapes theContinue reading “A brief note tonight.”

Today I look at where the pandemic is on Inauguration Day in the U.S. There is a real mix of disconcerting and hopeful signs. U.S. total deaths from COVID-19 have exceeded 400,000. This number is close to the worst case scenario from many of the public health models. At this point almost everyone knows someoneContinue reading “The status of the pandemic in the U.S. on January 20, 2021”