Tag: vaccine
100 million Covid vaccine shots destroyed in India
The Serum Institute of India (SII) has decided to dump 100 million doses of their now-expired COVID-19 vaccine. SII, the world’s largest vaccine maker, stopped producing the locally-administered Covishield vaccine in December last year due to low demand. “… people […]
Indonesia first to approve use of Chinese COVID-19 vaccine
Indonesian Food and Drugs Agency (BPOM) has granted approval for the use of an mRNA COVID-19 vaccine developed by a Chinese company, Walvax Biotechnology. Indonesia thus becomes the first country to grant emergency use approval for that vaccine, ahead of […]
IBD patients show effective COVID-19 vaccine response, despite fears
Patients suffering from inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) are more susceptible to infection than the general population because of their treatment with immunosuppressive drugs. Nevertheless, these patients have been encouraged to take the COVID-19 vaccine, which has proven safe and effective […]
Fourth COVID-19 vaccine dose authorised for Americans over 50
The Head of the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA)’s Center for Biologics Evaluation and Research, Peter Marks, has encouraged getting a second booster dose of either the Pfizer-BioNTech or Moderna COVID-19 vaccine for increased protection for high-risk persons. The […]
“Immune system-on-a-chip” helps predict vaccine response
Scientists at the Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering (Wyss), Harvard University, have successfully modelled the human immune system on microfluidic chips. Most medical innovations such as vaccines sometimes fall short of expectations in live human experiments – instead of […]
‘Pan-coronavirus’ vaccine in development by US Army
A massive project aimed at developing a coronavirus vaccine that can provide protection against all SARS-CoV-2 variants is underway at the Walter Reed Army Institute of Research (WRAIR). Instead of focusing on a single permutation of the SARS-CoV-2 spike protein, […]
Two doses of Sinovac vaccine found insufficient against coronavirus variant
The Sinovac COVID-19 vaccine will remain as part of Singapore’s national vaccination programme as a three-dose regime, inspite of recent findings by the National Centre for Infectious Diseases (NCID) and the Ministry of Health (MOH). The joint study has found […]
Intranasal vaccination more effective against respiratory viruses, study finds
New preclinical research at Yale University suggests intranasal vaccines (delivered through the nose) may generate stronger immunity against air-borne viruses compared to more conventional injection-delivered vaccines. Not only is an inhalable nasal spray a much easier vaccine delivery system to […]
FDA approves booster dose of Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine for US citizens
This week, the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved of a booster shot for the Pfizer-BioNTech (Pfizer) COVID-19 vaccine for at-risk individuals in the US. The FDA has amended the prior emergency use authorisation for Pfizer’s COVID-19 vaccine to […]
WHO Director-General “appalled” over global COVID-19 vaccine inequity
Global vaccine-sharing initiative COVAX – launched in 2020 to ensure equitable access to COVID-19 vaccines for low-income nations – is reportedly falling short of its vaccine distribution milestones for this year. COVAX initially aimed to deliver two billion COVID-19 doses […]
