New vaccine may be option for troops with religious concerns
A COVID-19 vaccine that could soon win federal authorization may offer a boost for the U.S. military: an opportunity to get shots into some of the thousands of service members who have refused the other coronavirus vaccines for religious reasons.
โA promising candidateโ: Houston health experts discuss Novavax vaccine trial
On Thursday, Johnson and Johnson requested emergency authorization from the FD and now the Novavax vaccine is in the works. โI think itโs a promising candidate,โ Dr. Jennifer Whitaker at the Baylor College of Medicine said. AdThe Novavax vaccine would require two shots 21 days apart. The Baylor College of Medicine started the Novavax clinical trial in January and has about 130 people enrolled. If you would like to take part in the Novavax clinical trial, click here for more information.
Novavax COVID-19 vaccine works, but less so against variants
FILE - In this Tuesday, May 26, 2020 photo released by Nucleus Network/ABC, clinical trial participants are monitored during Novavax COVID-19 vaccine testing in Melbourne, Australia. The numbers are very small, but Novavax said they suggest the vaccine is nearly 96% effective against the older coronavirus and nearly 86% effective against the new variant. Results from a smaller Novavax study in that country suggests the vaccine does work but not nearly as well as it does against the variant from Britain. Tests suggested that nearly a third of study participants had been previously infected, yet rates of new infections in the placebo group were similar. Called a recombinant protein vaccine, the Maryland company uses genetic engineering to grow harmless copies of the coronavirus spike protein in insect cells.
Drugmaker Novavax begins late-stage vaccine trial in UK
LONDON โ U.S.-based Novavax has begun a late stage trial of its potential COVID-19 vaccine in the United Kingdom because the high-level of the coronavirus circulating in the country is likely to produce quick results, the pharmaceutical company said. Novavax plans to test the effectiveness of its vaccine in a trial involving 10,000 people between the ages of 18 and 84, according to a statement issued late Thursday. The trial is being conducted in partnership with the U.K. governmentโs Vaccine Taskforce, which was created in April to help speed the development of a COVID-19 vaccine. The U.K. has already agreed to buy 60 million doses of the Novavax vaccine to ensure it can be distributed as quickly as possible if it is approved by regulators. The government said Friday that participants in the Novavax trial will be drawn from the 250,000 people who have volunteered to take part in COVID-19 vaccine testing through the National Health Serviceโs Vaccine Registry.
Stocks post solid gains as technology shares lead rally
Despite the rally, the S&P 500 still posted its fourth straight weekly loss, extending Wall Street's September swoon. The S&P 500 rose 1.6% after flip-flopping between small gains and losses a few times in the early going. The S&P 500 came within striking distance of a 10% drop from its all-time high earlier this week, what Wall Street calls a correction. The S&P 500 rose 51.87 points to 3,298.46. Norwegian Cruise Line notched the biggest gain in the S&P 500, vaulting 13.7%.
The Latest: Concerns over coronavirus upticks in California
The directive comes amid concerns about an uptick in coronavirus cases in certain Brooklyn and Queens neighborhoods with large Orthodox Jewish populations. New York Cityโs current overall infection rate remains low, but official figures indicate the affected neighborhoods accounted for 20% of the cityโs coronavirus cases in recent weeks. ___BOSTON โ An outbreak of coronavirus infections at a major Boston hospital has grown to 19 confirmed cases. ___DES MOINES, Iowa โ Iowa has reported a jump of 1,086 new coronavirus cases, the second consecutive day of new cases exceeding 1,000. There are currently nearly 985,000 worldwide coronavirus deaths.
Trump to visit North Carolina, cite work on COVID-19 vaccine
WASHINGTON The White House says President Donald Trump will visit North Carolina on Monday to tour a business that is participating in work on a COVID-19 vaccine. The White House said Trump is expected to speak about the collaboration between the administration and the private sector to rapidly develop a vaccine and ensure rapid distribution once ready. North Carolina is a key battleground state in the coming election, and Trumps visit marks his 10th trip to the state during his presidency. The biotechnology facility Trump will visit is the FUJIFILM Diosynth Biotechnologies Innovation Center in Morrisville, a suburb of Raleigh. The White House said the company is manufacturing key components of a COVID-19 vaccine candidate being developed by Novavax, an American vaccine development company based in Maryland.