Stanford launches pediatric vaccine trial that will include children as young as 6 months https://abc7.com/science/stanford-begins-pfizer-vaccine-trial-on-kids/10519254/ As Americans continue to line up for COVID-19 vaccines, doctors in the Bay Area are hoping to extend that option to younger children as well. Stanford is launching a pediatric vaccine trial that will ultimately include kids as young as 6 months. Zina Good has a full house these days. But as a cancer researcher at Stanford, she felt it was important to volunteer for the new pediatric COVID-19 vaccine trial -- in part to inspire other families, but also to speed the process. "I hope other families can participate in the trial so this vaccination is available as an authorized vaccine for all kids very soon," she explains. Children ages 5 to 12 years will receive the Pfizer vaccine in a phase 3 study. That's to gather final data for a potential FDA authorization in that age group. But principal investigator Dr. Yvonne Maldonado says they're also conducting earlier phase trials in younger children, ages 2 to 5 in one group, then eventually 6 months of age and up. An important goal of those trials will be determining the optimal dosage. "You want to work your way down in age and see whether the children as they get younger tolerate higher doses of the vaccine over time," says Dr. Maldonado. She says the trial is similar to the way researchers test a host of familiar childhood vaccines. And for participants, the experience won't feel much different than going in to get a routine shot. But ultimately making the vaccine available to the country's 85 million children could have a profound impact in the battle against COVID-19. "That's about a quarter, or a little under a quarter of our U.S. population. So it's really important if we want to get herd immunity to include children," she adds. Especially with parents returning to work, and kids returning to school, daycare, and just being kids. "It would be really difficult to completely evade getting exposed for little kids. So it's really peace of mind to know they're protected," says Zina Good. For Zina and her family, it's an added sense of security -- and one she hopes other families will want to share.
Most likely they are looking at the veterinary market for the vaccines too. Lots of researchers and pharma companies worried about running out of markets as full vaccination approaches.
They are well ahead of you. Covid: Will your pet need a coronavirus vaccine? BBC - https://tinyurl.com/2rprpw6d From the start of the pandemic, experts have shared their concerns about the impact of coronavirus on animals. And while scientists say there is currently no evidence that animals play a significant role in spreading the disease to people, infections have been confirmed in various species worldwide. These include dogs, cats, apes and even mink. To address these infections, scientists are developing Covid-19 vaccines that are specially designed for animals. On Wednesday, Russia announced it had registered what it said was the world's first animal-specific jab. (More at above url)
Not really. I said most likely they are looking at it, and that just confirms it. I see their gig. There are lots of things you can go ahead and just assume that they are working on. Inhalable vaccines would be another. cha ching ....cha ching.
There is a recent case in Person County, N.C involving transmission between pets of two neighboring families where the adults did not interact but the pets regularly visited one another. I am hoping it makes the news locally here -- if it does I will post it. It basically involves one family with children with pets who all got COVID-19 including their pets (two dogs and a cat - note: testing being done with pets still). The neighbor several houses away is an elderly couple who keep to themselves with one dog. Their dog interacted with the neighbors pets regularly (it is a rural area they just run around outside at will) -- and the dog got COVID-19 (apparently). The elderly couple was vaccinated a while back and did not have COVID. They are now having all sorts of scientific investigators from universities testing the pets and people with genome sequencing etc. to show the transmission path (and to prove the pets had COVID-19 and not some other animal virus). I expect that if this case and others prove out to be true -- it will drive a demand for COVID-19 vaccines for pets. We have already seen what COVID-19 has done to mink farms in Europe.
There are veterinary and animal husbandry aspects too related to the origins of this and many/most viruses. We come full circle a bit. A year ago when when there were discussions about the origins of the virus, we markets etc. - perhaps from being a farmboy- I emphasized several times that China notoriously has very, very, very poor animal husbandry practices- particularly avian and swine related. Crowding, appalling lack of sanitation, blood fluids uncontrolled etc. They lead the world in outbreaks of different avian and swine virus and bacteria every year but most do not transmit to humans so it is tolerated by the world. But they run a massive breeding ground for new viruses in animal populations. And with the bacteria they smash everything down with antibiotics which just leads to even more virulent strains. Long winded way of sayin, yes, there is clearly a veterinary aspect to all of this epidemic stuff. Mink are a bit unusual in that they seem to get the same flu's as humans, and they get the swine and avian flu's too and it makes them very ill- as does covid. Whereas lots of animals such as dogs and chimps get covid or could but they do not seem to get very ill from it. The thing that also exacerbates the mink problem is that many/most mink farms are run like shit-chinese farms- in this country as well.
Response to one COVID-19 vaccine dose strong in previously infected https://medicalxpress.com/news/2021-04-response-covid-vaccine-dose-strong.html For persons with a history of previous infection with severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), the neutralizing antibody titer is higher after one dose of mRNA vaccine than after two vaccine doses among previously uninfected persons, according to a research letter published online April 14 in the New England Journal of Medicine. Gabriele Anichini, from the University of Siena in Italy, and colleagues conducted an observational cohort study involving 100 health care workers, including 38 who had a documented history of SAR-CoV-2 infection and 62 who had not been previously infected. Both groups received the mRNA vaccine BNT162b2. Serum samples were obtained 10 days after administration of the first dose in previously infected participants and 10 days after the second dose in previously uninfected participants. The researchers observed no significant difference in circulating anti-spike immunoglobulin G antibody titers between the samples from previously infected and uninfected participants (mean level: 20,120 and 22,639 arbitrary units/mL, respectively). Samples from previously infected participants had significantly higher levels of neutralizing antibodies than those from previously uninfected participants (geometric mean titer: 569 versus 118). "These findings provide evidence that after the administration of a single dose of vaccine, the humoral response against SARS-CoV-2 in persons with a history of SARS-CoV-2 infection is greater than the response in previously uninfected participants who have received a second dose," the authors write.
This is to be expected I think. The one-two step is also the basis of the two shot vaccines and why - particularly with Moderna the strongest reactions/side effects are after the second shot. The first show tits up your system to recognize and encode the virus. And the second shot challenges. a pre-programmed immune system which is better able to produce antibodies. Similarly, out in the wild unvaccinated world some people get covid and then will get it again in- sometimes even stronger. We cannot, however, conclude then, as many have, that no immunity is being built up. That second case is just the equivalent of a second vaccine shot. This whole process is just basically the process of a novel virus becoming a known virus in the population where each exposure tits you up a little more, and you may still get sick but the lethality is lessened. Not true for everyone though. Even a vaccine requires you to have a reasonably functioning immune system and severely ill or elderly do not. That;s why many still die of the flu or pneumonia even though there are vaccines for both.
Half of US adults now have received at least 1 COVID shot https://www.wral.com/fauci-says-he-expects-j-j-vaccine-to-resume-later-this-week/19633414/ Half of all adults in the U.S. have received at least one COVID-19 shot, the government announced Sunday, marking another milestone in the nation’s largest-ever vaccination campaign but leaving more work to do to convince skeptical Americans to roll up their sleeves. Almost 130 million people 18 or older have received at least one dose of a vaccine, or 50.4% of the total adult population, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported. Almost 84 million adults, or about 32.5% of the population, have been fully vaccinated. The U.S. cleared the 50% mark for adults just a day after the reported global death toll from the coronavirus topped a staggering 3 million, according to totals compiled by Johns Hopkins University, though the actual number is believed to be significantly higher. In other developments, the nation's top infectious diseases expert indicated Sunday that the government will likely move to resume use of Johnson & Johnson’s COVID-19 vaccine this week, possibly with restrictions or broader warnings after reports of some very rare blood clot cases. Dr. Anthony Fauci, in a series of news show interviews, said he expects a decision when advisers to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention meet Friday to discuss the pause in J&J’s single-dose vaccine. “I would be very surprised if we don’t have a resumption in some form by Friday,” he said. "I don’t really anticipate that they’re going to want it stretch it out a bit longer.” Fauci, who is President Joe Biden’s chief medical adviser, said he believed that federal regulators could bring the shots back with restrictions based on age or gender or with a blanket warning, so that it is administered in a way “a little bit different than we were before the pause.” The J&J vaccine has been in limbo after the CDC and the Food and Drug Administration said last week they needed more evidence to decide if a handful of unusual blood clots were linked to the shot — and if so, how big the risk is. The reports are rare — six cases out of more than 7 million U.S. inoculations with J&J vaccine. The clots were found in six women between the ages of 18 and 48. One person died. The acting FDA commissioner had said she expected the pause to last only a matter of days. Still, the decision last Tuesday triggered swift action in Europe and elsewhere. Fauci said he doubted very seriously that the U.S. would permanently halt use of the J&J vaccine. “I don’t think that’s going to happen,” he said. “The pause was to take a look, make sure we know all the information we can have within that timeframe, and also warn some of the physicians out there who might see people, particularly women, who have this particular adverse event, that they treat them properly.” “I think it’ll likely say, ‘OK, we’re going to use it. But be careful under these certain circumstances.’” More than 6.8 million doses of the J&J vaccine have been given in the U.S., the vast majority with no or mild side effects. Authorities stressed they have found no sign of clot problems with the most widely used COVID-19 vaccines in the U.S. — from Moderna and Pfizer. Fauci appeared on NBC’s “Meet the Press,” CNN’s “State of the Union,” ABC’s “This Week” and CBS’ “Face the Nation.”
Emergent BioSolutions is effectively stopping COVID vaccine manufacturing at its Bayview (Baltimore, Maryland) plant. We should not be expecting any further doses of J&J or other vaccines to be coming from this plant. The FDA shut them down (see bit.ly link) Emergent says will not manufacture new COVID-19 vaccine material at Bayview plant https://finance.yahoo.com/news/emergent-says-not-manufacture-covid-102909492.html Emergent BioSolutions Inc said on Monday it will not manufacture any new material at its Bayview facility, which has been making the drug substance for various COVID-19 vaccines. (https://bit.ly/3tygD8q) (Reporting by Manas Mishra in Bengaluru; Editing by Shounak Dasgupta)