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The FirstNet network expanded the number of unthrottled, deployable network assets for fire, EMS, law enforcement, and other public safety personnel to more than 100 land-based and airborne portable cell sites as of last week.
“When disaster strikes, FirstNet is there to support first... Read More »
University of North Carolina (UNC) Gillings School of Global Public Health researchers are exploring the potential of a universal vaccine protecting mice against other coronaviruses and variants.
Scientists noted coronaviruses continue to be a threat after causing the SARS outbreak 18 years ago,... Read More »
A new report from the Global Coalition on Aging (GCOA) and the Infectious Diseases Society of America (IDSA), a first of its kind known as the AMR Preparedness Index, provides an evaluation and roadmap for the 11 largest global economies and their efforts to tackle rising cases of antimicrobial... Read More »
Under an expanded agreement with Moderna, Inc., the Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority (BARDA) announced this week that it will provide program management support and up to $144 million for the Phase 2/3 clinical trial of its COVID-19 vaccine on children.
Also known as... Read More »
A new phase one clinical trial kicked off this week for an mRNA-based vaccine against seasonal influenza -- specifically the A/H3N2 strain -- cooperatively developed by Sanofi Pasteur and Translate Bio.
With interim data expected by the end of the year, the trial will chart both safety and... Read More »
The World Health Organization (WHO) and its COVAX partners announced they are working with a South African consortium to establish a COVID mRNA vaccine technology transfer hub.
The consortium, comprising Biovac, Afrigen Biologics and Vaccines, a network of African universities, and the Africa... Read More »
As a result of phase three COMET-ICE trial data, GlaxoSmithKline plc and Vir Biotechnology, Inc. announced this week that they will push forward with sotrovimab, an investigational monoclonal antibody treatment for SARS-CoV-2.
Primary efficacy analysis of 1,057 patients who participated in the... Read More »
A combined supplement from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) last week spread $200 million among 59 jurisdiction public health programs to expand the disease intervention specialists (DIS) workforce.
This funding is... Read More »
A novel mRNA vaccine developed to protect against malaria has demonstrated full defense against the disease in mice, according to the latest research published in npj Vaccines.
Developed by joint efforts from Walter Reed Army Institute of Research (WRAIR), the Naval Medical Research Center, the... Read More »
The results of a Johns Hopkins-led study into the potential causes of increased transmission among certain SARS-CoV-2 variants has determined that at least two of these variants showed no evidence of higher viral loads but less likelihood of carriers presenting as asymptomatic.
Utilizing whole... Read More »
An additional order of 200 million doses of the Moderna, Inc. COVID-19 vaccine, mRNA-1273, this week has brought the total U.S. government's order commitment to 500 million.
As of June 14, Moderna has supplied 217 million total doses to the government. Another 110 million doses are slated for... Read More »
Stratatech Corporation and the Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority (BARDA) achieved major milestones this week with the announcement of U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approval for StrataGraft, a treatment for adults with thermal burns.
Stratagraft is specifically... Read More »
A new antibody testing study conducted by the National Institutes of Health’s (NIH) All of Us Research Program has just altered the timeline for SARS-CoV-2 growth in the United States, revealing the viral cause of COVID-19 may have been in-country nearly a month earlier than established.
Until... Read More »
The U.S. Navy recently awarded a $90.2 million contract to BAE Systems to maintain and modernize the amphibious transport dock USS San Diego.
“The upcoming USS San Diego project is a major event in the service life of the ship, expanding its capability to execute a wide range of naval missions... Read More »
North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) leaders said the body chartered the Alliance’s course over the next decade in the wake of concluding the recent NATO Summit in Brussels, Belgium.
“To do more, Allies agreed that we need to invest more together in NATO,” Secretary General Jens... Read More »
With $2.38 million in grant support from a new contract with the Louisiana Department of Health (LDH) and a National Institute of General Medical Sciences supplement, LSU Health New Orleans intends to form partnerships to sequence SARS-CoV-2 variants.
A team led by Dr. Lucio Miele, professor and... Read More »
U.S. Secretary of Homeland Security Alejandro Mayorkas and Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti toured Thursday the Los Angeles Cyber Lab to receive a briefing on its operational capabilities.
The lab, funded by public-private partnerships, was established in 2017 by the Mayor’s office to better... Read More »
A fourth strong contender appears to have emerged for COVID-19 vaccines in the United States, as this week’s results from the Phase 3 PREVENT-19 trial of the Novavax, Inc. COVID-19 demonstrated a 90 percent overall efficacy against the disease.
The NVX-CoV2373 vaccine fully protected against... Read More »
Two batches of COVID-19 vaccine solution that Emergent BioSolutions Inc. manufactures for Johnson & Johnson at its Baltimore Bayview facility are suitable for use, the U.S. Food & Drug Administration (FDA) announced on Friday.
“These actions followed an extensive review of records,... Read More »
Nuclear Threat Initiative (NTI) personnel said the recent offering of its U.S. Nuclear Policies for a Safer World seeks to bolster efforts to reduce growing nuclear risks.
The set of papers calls for establishing a bipartisan liaison group between Congress and the administration and policy... Read More »
Following positive test results, Moderna, Inc. filed last week with the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to expand the scope of its COVID-19 vaccine’s emergency use authorization (EUA) to include adolescents between 12 and 18 years old.
This expansion push follows the results of a... Read More »
The Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority (BARDA) will provide $706,534 in funding for Dascena, Inc. to further its COViage system, potentially expanding its machine learning capabilities to predict deteriorating health among hospitalized COVID-19 patients.
Hospitalized COVID-19... Read More »
The World Health Organization (WHO) gained more than 3 million lab-confirmed infection case reports in response -- a record figure -- in response to a call issued last year for input into the Global Antimicrobial Resistance and Use Surveillance System (GLASS).
These country-by-country reports... Read More »
A new agreement struck between the Biden administration and Merck & Co. will provide the U.S. government with 1.7 million courses of the company’s investigational COVID-19 antiviral treatment, molnupiravir.
This agreement is contingent upon either emergency use authorization (EUA) or approval... Read More »
In efforts to improve the Strategic National Stockpile, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) awarded a $53.4 million contract to Henry Schein, Inc. this week for the storage and distribution of 80,000 pallets of personal protective equipment and COVID-19 related products.
This... Read More »
The U.S. Departments of Defense (DoD) and Health and Human Services (HHS) have awarded a $4.6 million contract to DiaSorin Inc. to boost production capacity of SARS-CoV-2 serology tests by nearly eightfold, to 10 million per month by May 2022.
Currently, the lab diagnostics company DiaSorin... Read More »
Oshkosh Corporation announced that it has secured a $942.9 million Army contract to update weapon systems on Stryker Infantry Carrier Vehicles.
The scope of work would include integrating a 30mm Medium Caliber Weapon System (MCWS) onto the Stryker Double V Hull Infantry Carrier Vehicle (ICVVA1)... Read More »
A professor at Georgia State University’s Institute for Biomedical Sciences, Dr. Sang-Moo Kang, received a five-year, $2.7 million grant from the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) last week for a study of seasonal and universal vaccination in elderly... Read More »
Center for American Progress (CAP) officials are espousing the benefits of the Biden administration's decision to make global anti-corruption a prime focus of national security initiatives.
The Biden administration recently released its initial National Security Study Memorandum targeting a... Read More »
The newest White House budget proposal would put billions of dollars in funding toward public health, drug, and research initiatives, offering what the Infectious Diseases Society of America (IDSA) called the potential to return the United States to leadership in infectious disease responses.
At... Read More »
Biotech company Moderna announced Tuesday that they had entered into an agreement with Thermo Fisher Scientific to fill/finish the sterile manufacturing and packaging of Moderna’s COVID-19 vaccine.
Under the agreement, Thermo Fishers’ facility in Greenville, N.C., will be used for aseptic... Read More »
Air Force officials said the branch has awarded a $91.8 million task order to KBR, Inc. to provide engineering services for aircraft and other system components.
The scope of work will involve elements managed by the 448th Supply Chain Management Wing (SCMW), focusing on research, analysis, and... Read More »
In four months, a Bechtel-led team has managed to destroy approximately 60 tons of VX nerve agent contained in 155-millimeter artillery projectiles, pulling the United States closer to an international chemical weapons reduction goal.
“This is an important milestone for the team,” Ron Hink,... Read More »
With $4.2 million in funding from the Henry Jackson Foundation and a new partnership with the U.S. Naval Medical Research Center (NMRC), Centivax Inc. intends to pursue phase one clinical development of Centi-B9, a broad-spectrum injectable for treating SARS-CoV-2.
Unlike other vaccines and... Read More »
The leaders of the international organizations for financing, health, and trade are urging government leaders to finance a new $50 billion roadmap to help end the pandemic and spur global economic recovery.
Leaders of the International Monetary Fund, World Bank Group, World Health Organization,... Read More »
