Covid Vaccine Race

ABNCoV2, a non-adjuvanted COVID-19 booster vaccine by Bavarian Nordic, demonstrates promising results in phase 2 trials. The vaccine generates strong immune responses, neutralizing multiple variants of concern, including Beta, Delta, and Omicron.

The FDA’s Vaccines and Related Biological Products Advisory Committee (VRBPAC) unanimously voted 2023-2024 COVID-19 vaccines should be updated to a monovalent XBB strain.

"It does take the immune system a while to build up antibodies and recover," said Madeline King-Patel, PharmD, BCIDP, "So you don't want to give the vaccines too close to each other, or you're not going to get the full benefits."

As the official COVID-19 emergency is declared over, our Editor-in-Chief Jason Gallagher, PharmD, FCCP, FIDP, FIDSA, BCPS, reflects on the public health response, the scientific successes, and the shortcomings that were experienced.

Neutralizing antibodies were initially lowest among Janssen vaccine recipients, but this all changed 6 months after vaccination.

Although vaccine effectiveness against the Omicron variant drops rapidly over time, a booster dose bolsters protection levels.

The vaccine efficacy of the Novavax’s NVX-CoV2373 was 79.5% in adolescents.

Panel moderator Rodney Rohde, PhD, notes that word choice is important and clinicians should emphasize the COVID-19 vaccine is not a live virus but is instead designed to challenge the immune system to protect against the virus.

The last week in April is World Immunization Week, and we're recapping the most recent and significant developments in infectious disease vaccines.

The CDC and FDA now recommend the Moderna and Pfizer-BioNTech mRNA bivalent COVID-19 vaccines be used for all vaccinations in the US.

The FDA moved to harmonize primary and booster COVID-19 vaccine doses, deciding only the Moderna and Pfizer-BioNTech bivalent mRNA vaccines should be administered to individuals 6 months and older.

Moderna announced new mRNA vaccine candidates to combat prevalent viruses, and is even developing their first-ever bacterial vaccine for Lyme disease.

Nursing home residents 85 years and older or with comorbidities were the most susceptible to COVID-19 breakthrough infections.

This study examined the impact of COVID-19 vaccination and infection on the risk of cardiac and all-cause mortality in young people aged 12-29 years.

Because trust in science predicts willingness to get a COVID-19 vaccine, the results of this study have significant public health consequences.

A new study found negative expectations prior to COVID-19 vaccination were associated with more systemic adverse events in individuals receiving their second dose of a COVID-19 vaccine.

Yesterday, the FDA took a major step toward officially approving Paxlovid. Catch up on this story and the other top COVID-19 news updates from the past week.

The FDA's Antimicrobial Drugs Advisory Committee recommended approving Pfizer’s New Drug Application for Paxlovid to treat mild-to-moderate COVID-19 in adults at high risk of severe or fatal disease progression.

With this FDA emergency use authorization (EUA), all persons 6 months and older are now eligible to receive the Pfizer-BioNTech Omicron BA.4/BA.5-adapted bivalent booster.

Children were hospitalized the most during the Omicron variant, but disease outcomes were the least severe during this variant period.

A booster dose of mRNA COVID-19 vaccination during pregnancy increases protection of infants from infection and related hospitalization.

The Lucira COVID-19 & Flu Test is a single-use at-home test kit that provides results from self-collected nasal swab samples in roughly 30 minutes.

A new report shows these providers are playing a larger role in vaccine administration, but without federal legislation codifying PREP, half the US states could determine not to continue this path for pharmacists and take away this now vital responsibility.

"We made a mistake," said Wendy Wright, DNP, ANP-BC, FNP-BC, FAANP, FAAN, FNAP. "We needed to have a 3-dose primary series and not call these booster shots.”

Administered during the Omicron-dominant phase, the vaccine's efficacy was 73.2% in individuals 6 months to 4 years of age.

Why have “long COVID” cases become less frequent and less severe over time?

The 2023 changes include vaccines for influenza, pneumococcal disease, measles, mumps, and rubella (MMR) and COVID-19.

After an 18-month study, investigators determined none of the diseases examined were more frequent among the vaccinated than among the non-vaccinated.

A phase 1 trial with the investigational vaccine, TNX-801, for the prevention of mpox and smallpox is expected to start in the second half of 2023.

The biggest COVID-19 news from the past week.