FDA Panel Backs Pfizer Booster for Select Groups
An FDA advisory panel recommended emergency use authorization (EUA) of a booster dose of the Pfizer/BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine (Comirnaty) for individuals 65 and older, and those judged to be at high risk of severe COVID-19. On Friday, the FDA’s Vaccines and Related Biological Products Advisory Committee (VRBPAC) voted 18-0 that the known and potential benefits […]
CDC Staff Floats ‘Risk-Based Approach’ to Potential Booster Doses
A risk-based booster dose strategy for COVID-19 vaccines could target populations at risk of severe disease and those critical to the public health infrastructure, CDC staff said at a meeting of CDC’s Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP) on Monday. Though FDA has yet to review data on booster doses for COVID-19 vaccines among the […]
The Science Supporting the U.S. Case for COVID Boosters
U.S. health officials laid out the scientific rationale for a third dose of the COVID-19 mRNA vaccines for all U.S. adults on Wednesday, relying on published and unpublished CDC data, as well as a preprint study. Overall, they said that there is evidence that vaccine effectiveness against infection — both symptomatic and asymptomatic — has […]
Monoclonal antibody may prevent malaria
One dose of a new monoclonal antibody discovered and developed at the National Institutes of Health safely prevented malaria for up to nine months in people who were exposed to the malaria parasite. The small, carefully monitored clinical trial is the first to demonstrate that a monoclonal antibody can prevent malaria in people. The trial […]
Full-Dose Heparin Benefit in Certain COVID-19 Patients Confirmed
A therapeutic dose of heparin was associated with increased probability of survival for non-critically ill COVID-19 patients versus usual-care thromboprophylaxis, but not for the most severe patient population, peer-reviewed results from the REMAP-CAP, ACTIV-4a, and ATTACC multi-platform trial showed. In the non-critically ill cohort, therapeutic dose anticoagulation with heparin was superior to usual care prophylaxis, […]
Two Shots, Two Paralyses After COVID Vaccine
A man experienced two discrete contralateral facial palsies, one after each dose of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine. The first episode developed 5 hours after the 61-year-old man received the first dose of the vaccine, reported Abigail Burrows, MBBS, of Royal Surrey County Hospital NHS Foundation Trust in Guildford, England, and colleagues. The second occurred 2 days […]