Vaccination coverage against most diseases by age 24 months high, except flu

Oct 22 2020

More than 90% of children born in 2016 and 2017 received recommended vaccines that prevent measles, mumps and rubella, polio, hepatitis B and varicella by age 24 months. In contrast, coverage rates for two doses of flu vaccine were lower than all vaccines studied, according to a report from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

Source: AAP

Next up in hunt for Covid-19 vaccine: Testing shots in kids

Oct 22 2020

The global hunt for a Covid-19 vaccine for kids is only just beginning — a lagging start that has some U.S. pediatricians worried they may not know if any shots work for young children in time for the next school year. Older adults may be most vulnerable to the coronavirus, but ending the pandemic will require vaccinating children, too. Last week, Pfizer Inc. received permission to test its vaccine in U.S. kids as young as 12, one of only a handful of attempts around the world to start exploring if any experimental shots being pushed for adults also can protect children.

Source: NBC

Maternal vaccination rates remain subpar in US women, racial disparities persist

Oct 22 2020

In the latest Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report (MMWR) published by the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) in early October, vaccination coverage in pregnant women was assessed for two key vaccines: influenza (flu) and tetanus toxoid, reduced diphtheria toxoid, and acellular pertussis (Tdap). Both vaccines protect the mother and child from potentially high-risk complications. However, findings suggest that just over half of pregnant women in the US receive these vaccines, with disproportionately lower maternal vaccination rates among Black and Hispanic women.

Source: .pharmaceutical-technolog

What if the Covid-19 vaccine only works half the time?

Oct 22 2020

In the not-so-distant future — we’ll probably know who won the 2020 election, but memories of the weirdest Thanksgiving ever will not have faded — you may be faced with an incredibly important choice. Should you get the Covid-19 vaccine? It’s been less than a year since the discovery of SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes the new disease, and we have not just one, but multiple vaccine candidates that may in time truly shut the door on the pandemic.

Source: Vox

Little-known FDA advisory group holds first meeting about COVID-19 vaccines

Oct 22 2020

A normally backwater committee meeting of a Food and Drug Administration advisory group held Thursday highlighted the extreme importance of getting COVID-19 vaccines right. The meeting was unlike others held by the Vaccines and Related Biological Products Advisory Committee, a group of outside experts who advise FDA on whether or not to approve drugs, therapeutics and vaccines after they have gone through FDA's rigorous approval process.

Source: USA Today

COVID-19 vaccine development (so far) unfazed by virus mutations

Oct 22 2020

DENVER, Colorado — Like all living cells, the chemical makeup of viruses mutate. In some viruses, it happens frequently, like influenza. “The best information we have is with influenza and clearly we know we have to get a shot every year because of that and we would assume that coronavirus probably also have some level of copying errors,” said Dr. Michelle Barron, medical director of Infection Prevention and Control at University of Colorado Hospital.

Source: 9 News

Covid-19 vaccine researchers left in the dark as trials remain on hold

Oct 22 2020

In early September, 37 volunteers received their first dose of AstraZeneca's Covid-19 vaccine candidate at University Hospital at the University of Wisconsin, Madison. The drugmaker's vaccine requires two doses, given about a month apart. But just days after the trial began, it was put on hold. Six weeks later, with the trial still paused, the participants have missed the window to receive their second dose. The researchers, it now appears, will essentially have to start from scratch.

Source: NBC

Colorado is set to break the flu vaccine record this year

Oct 22 2020

Source: KDVR

Vaccine storage issues could leave 3B people without access

Oct 22 2020

GAMPELA, Burkina Faso | The chain breaks here, in a tiny medical clinic in Burkina Faso that went nearly a year without a working refrigerator. From factory to syringe, the world’s most promising coronavirus vaccine candidates need non-stop sterile refrigeration to stay potent and safe. But despite enormous strides in equipping developing countries to maintain the vaccine “cold chain,” nearly 3 billion of the world’s 7.8 billion people live where temperature-controlled storage is insufficient for an immunization campaign to bring COVID-19 under control.

Source: Sentinel Colorado

How the FDA plans to build physician trust for COVID-19 vaccine

Oct 19 2020

Andis Robeznieks Senior News Writer The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is working at top speed to vet several vaccine candidates to help protect patients from SARS-CoV-2, the novel coronavirus that causes COVID-19. The agency is also fighting to regain the public’s trust in vaccines and to assure patients and physicians that science is driving the vaccine-approval process.

Source: AMA