Emerging Infectious Diseases
The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) is launching a new public education campaign to encourage people to get vaccinated against COVID-19 and increase confidence in the vaccines.
The department will create a nationwide network of trusted voices – local voices people know and... Read More »
The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) has initiated a COVID-19 mask design competition, with officials touting a total award of $500,000 available to winning entries.
“We know that properly and consistently worn face masks help reduce the spread of SARS-CoV-2 and other respiratory... Read More »
U.S. Rep. Nanette Diaz Barragán (D-CA) and U.S. Sens. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) and Cory Booker (D-NJ) recently reintroduced the Federal Correctional Facilities COVID-19 Response Act to revise the prison system’s COVID-19 response.
“The COVID-19 outbreaks at federal prisons across the... Read More »
Although it already has a successful COVID-19 vaccine in circulation, Moderna is developing a vaccine designed to address the troubling South African variant of the disease (B.1.351), and as of last week, the National Institutes of Health (NIH) began a phase one trial to evaluate it.
Known as... Read More »
Homeland Security Investigations, a division of the Department of Justice, is warning U.S. citizens about a scam targeting vulnerable consumers with promises of gifts and cash in exchange for participating in fraudulent post-vaccination surveys.
The fraudulent surveys are used to illegally... Read More »
Members of the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) workforce are helping the Federal Emergency Management Agency’s (FEMA) pandemic response by volunteering to help at community vaccination centers.
The volunteers are part of TSA’s Surge Capacity Force (SCF), a program for federal... Read More »
Clinicians have created a portable test -- dubbed NIRVANA -- capable of detecting and sequencing COVID-19, its variants, and other viruses in mere moments, according to data published in the journal Med.
Primarily, the test cuts out the need for extra diagnostics and middlemen.
"This is a... Read More »
The Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness (CEPI) announced this week that it will invest up to $200 million into promising vaccine candidates for SARS-CoV-2 and Betacoronavirus, following a call for proposals.
This funding will carry candidates through to clinical proof of concept and forms one... Read More »
Global healthcare company GSK has reached a principle agreement with Novavax and the UK Government Vaccines Taskforce to support the manufacturing of up to 60 million doses of Novavax’ COVID-19 vaccine.
Under the agreement, GSK will provide manufacturing capacity at its Barnard Castle facility... Read More »
Over the next year, the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) will lead a study of COVID-19 vaccine effectiveness on health workers, thanks to a $4.9 million grant from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).
Participants in what is being called the PREVENT (Preventing... Read More »
Even as the United States reels from a year under the thumb of COVID-19, a new analysis from the Bipartisan Commission on Biodefense, released this week, warns that without action, the nation remains dangerously vulnerable to another pandemic or biological threat.
The report, Biodefense in... Read More »
Moderna, a biotechnology company pioneering messenger RNA (mRNA) therapeutics and vaccines, announced Monday that it has shipped the 100 millionth dose of its COVID-19 vaccine to the U.S. government.
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, more than 67 million doses of the... Read More »
The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) recently partnered with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and the Administration for Community Living (ACL) to expand older adult COVID-19 vaccine access.
The initiative would provide nearly $100 million to assist with... Read More »
Faced with an already mutating SARS-CoV-2 virus, the world has found itself needing to adapt its countermeasures -- and a team of scientists from Nanyang Technological University in Singapore has responded with a new test capable of detecting even mutated strains.
The VaNGuard test, as it is... Read More »
Investigational SARS-CoV-2 monoclonal antibody VIR-7831 was submitted for emergency use authorization (EUA) at the United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA) last week by developers GlaxoSmithKline plc (GSK) and Vir Biotechnology, Inc.
Pitched as a treatment for mild to moderate cases of... Read More »
A bipartisan group of senators, led by U.S. Sens. Rob Portman (R-OH) and Amy Klobuchar (D-MN), wrote to the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) last week with concerns about and calls to action against coronavirus vaccine misinformation being sown among veterans.
While misinformation has been a... Read More »
According to a new study from the Galveston National Laboratory, published last week in Nature Communications, combining monoclonal antibodies and the antiviral remdesivir can make for a potent defense against the lethal Marburg virus (MARV).
Conducted at the University of Texas Medical Branch... Read More »
The Medical Reserve Corps (MRC) is playing a major role in the fight against COVID-19 in the United States, deploying more than 300 units to assist vaccination efforts in 43 states, plus Puerto Rico, American Samoa, and the Northern Mariana Islands.
“MRC units started training for COVID-19... Read More »
Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) and INTERPOL personnel said the agencies have partnered to issue public warnings concerning online COVID-19 vaccines and treatment purchases.
“Counterfeit vaccines threaten the health of consumers who are duped by nefarious actors seeking to exploit the... Read More »
A bill first introduced in the 116th Congress -- the Securing America from Epidemics (SAFE) Act (H.R. 2118) -- is making the rounds in the House of Representatives again, thanks to its reintroduction by U.S. Rep. Ami Bera (D-CA).
Bera, Chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Subcommittee on Asia,... Read More »
Moving quickly to tamp down concerns raised by the independent Data Safety Monitoring Board (DSMB) this week, AstraZeneca announced today that primary analysis of its AZD1222 COVID-19 vaccine’s phase three trial confirmed 76 percent efficacy against symptomatic cases.
“The primary analysis... Read More »
A recently released Johns Hopkins Center for Health Security at the Bloomberg School of Public Health report is calling on the United States to address COVID-19 health misinformation and disinformation.
The call for a national strategy stems from the findings in "National Priorities to Combat... Read More »
Topline results from a phase three trial of the Regeneron Pharmaceuticals, Inc. COVID-19 antibody treatment, REGEN-COV, are in, demonstrating 70 percent reductions in hospitalization or death and shortened symptom durations.
The results were not overly affected by dosage. Across three dosage... Read More »
Encouraged by its success against SARS-CoV-2 and other coronaviruses in test-tube studies, Pfizer Inc. has launched a phase one study of healthy adults to determine if multiple ascending doses of an oral antiviral therapeutic could be effective against COVID-19.
PF-07321332 is a protease... Read More »
The Science and Technology Directorate (S&T) of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) awarded $959,305 to the University of Washington’s Applied Physics Laboratory this week to create testing criteria for a COVID-19 digital contact tracing app.
The award was granted through the Silicon... Read More »
A Stewardship and Access Plan Development Guide for countering the spread of antibiotic-resistant superbugs was developed and released this week by CARB-X, some of its leading funders and major antibacterial researchers.
The Combating Antibiotic-Resistant Bacteria Biopharmaceutical Accelerator... Read More »
AstraZeneca, already racked with setbacks in the European Union, faced another crisis in its COVID-19 vaccine efforts on Tuesday when the U.S. Data and Safety Monitoring Board (DSMB) expressed concerns that recent trial data released by the company is outdated.
The focus of concern is AZD1222,... Read More »
U.S. Sens. Tina Smith (D-MN) and Todd Young (R-IN) introduced a bill that would improve coordination among government agencies when studying animal and human health to prevent disease outbreaks.
Specifically, the Advancing Emergency Preparedness Through One Health Act would require the... Read More »
As the debate over AstraZeneca’s AZD1222 COVID-19 vaccine rages in Europe, the results of a phase three trial in the United States have shown the vaccine to be 79 percent effective at preventing symptomatic COVID-19 and 100 percent effective at preventing severe cases and hospitalization.
The... Read More »
The House Committee on Homeland Security advanced seven pieces of legislation this week, including bills that would secure critical infrastructure networks, enhance air travel safety during COVID-19 and future pandemics, improve information sharing, and support first responders.
One of the bills... Read More »
Nuclear Threat Initiative (NTI) and Munich Security Conference (MSC) personnel recently collaborated to convene 19 current and former global leaders and experts to address reducing high-consequence biological threats.
The endeavor was offered in conjunction with the MSC’s “Beyond... Read More »
Two Georgetown University infectious disease experts maintain vaccines alone may not be enough to control the COVID-19 pandemic.
Angela L. Rasmussen and Saskia V. Popescu, faculty affiliates of the university's Center for Global Health Science and Security, noted that protecting against the... Read More »
Pointing the finger firmly at China in the throes of the COVID-19 pandemic, Republican leaders on the House Energy and Commerce (E&C) Committee have written to the National Institutes of Health, urging its experts to join them in an independent investigation of the disease’s origins.
As the... Read More »
Warning that antibiotic resistance is one of the greatest public health threats of the age, the Infectious Diseases Society of America (IDSA) and several partner organizations wrote to House leaders last week urging them to create a comprehensive One Health approach to counter the rising... Read More »
Following the suspension of AstraZeneca’s COVID-19 vaccine by several European countries this week, owing to reports of rare types of blood clots emerging among the vaccinated, the World Health Organization (WHO) has recommended that vaccinations continue.
While the European Union suspensions... Read More »
