Public Health
The United States Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) intends to invest $2.1 billion to improve infection prevention and control activities at the state, local and territorial levels, and better improve national capabilities to prepare for emerging infectious diseases.
These funds... Read More »
A group of lawmakers from Florida are encouraging the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) to reverse its decision to ration monoclonal antibody (mAb) drugs for COVID-19 outpatient treatment.
The lawmakers said the HHS decision would result in Florida facing a deficit of doses. Sen.... Read More »
A pair of lawmakers have introduced a bill they said seeks to create an emergency supply of key ingredients used in essential generic medicines.
Sens. Bill Cassidy (R-LA) and Sherrod Brown (D-OH) maintain the bipartisan Promoting Readiness and Ensuring Proper Active Pharmaceutical Ingredient... Read More »
While buoyed by the House Energy and Commerce Committee’s advancement of the Build Back Better Act, and the offerings therein, the United States COVID-19 Global Vaccination Caucus chimed in last week to note that its offers for vaccine manufacturing are just a beginning.
The caucus consists of... Read More »
Leaders of several international organizations including the International Monetary Fund, World Bank Group, the World Health Organization and the World Trade Organization met with the CEOs of leading vaccine manufacturing companies to discuss way to improve low- and lower-middle income countries’... Read More »
According to new data from clinical trials highlighted by Moderna, Inc. this week, its debut COVID-19 vaccine, mRNA-1273, continues to be highly effective against COVID-19, providing 96 percent efficacy against hospitalization and 87 percent against infection.
The data -- from a study at Kaiser... Read More »
Regeneron Pharmaceuticals, Inc. and Eli Lilly and Company have secured Department of Defense (DOD) contracts to produce additional doses of monoclonal antibodies to block the infectivity of SARS-CoV-2.
Authorities indicated the $3.2 billion total allotment is in coordination with the Department... Read More »
Vaccine equity is in need of a boost globally, and in Africa in particular, and unless that changes, World Health Organization (WHO) Director-General Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus and other health leaders said this week the COVID-19 pandemic may never end.
Cooperation is the key to ending the... Read More »
A group of Maryland lawmakers applauded President Joe Biden for granting their request to the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) for federal disaster assistance through the Hazard Mitigation Grant Program (HMGP).
U.S. Reps. John Sarbanes (D-MD), Steny H. Hoyer (D-MD), Dutch Ruppersberger... Read More »
The Biden administration seeks an international summit on COVID-19 pandemic responses and to form a united global front for vaccination efforts, a proposal that could impact vaccine manufacturing, supply chains and even the upcoming United Nations General Assembly.
Closer to home, though, U.S.... Read More »
Novavax, Inc. began enrollment last week of the first participants for a Phase 1/2 clinical trial to assess the safety and immunogenicity of a combination vaccine formed from the company’s seasonal influenza and COVID-19 vaccines.
Each vaccine has already been tested in solo clinical trials up... Read More »
With the COVID-19 pandemic as a constant reminder of the importance of public health efforts, AmeriCorps and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) last week announced a joint recruitment and training effort for public health experts known as Public Health AmeriCorps.
That program... Read More »
Under the terms of a new, multi-year agreement reached this week between Moderna and National Resilience, National Resilience will produce mRNA for Moderna’s COVID-19 vaccines at its Mississauga, Ontario facility.
“Moderna’s COVID-19 vaccine has saved countless lives, and we’re excited... Read More »
In its latest Supply Forecast, the multilateral vaccine equity program COVAX announced expectations of 1.425 billion doses of COVID-19 vaccines available this year, with 2 billion doses available for delivery in the first quarter of 2022 -- a milestone, but still a lagging figure.
Resulting from... Read More »
A group of lawmakers launched the COVID-19 Global Vaccination Caucus, which they said would advocate for vaccines as a means of ending the COVID-19 pandemic.
Reps. Raja Krishnamoorthi (D-IL), Pramila Jayapal (D-WA), Tom Malinowski (D-NJ), Mark Pocan (D-WI) and Jake Auchincloss (D-MA) along with... Read More »
As part of a contract signed with Valneva SE last year, the United States Department of Defense (DoD) has decided to utilize an option that will increase supply of the company’s Japanese encephalitis vaccine, IXIARO, to a minimum of 200,000 doses.
Japanese encephalitis is a deadly infectious... Read More »
Thanks to collaborations with commercial and academic research partners alike, the Argonne National Laboratory has published new research showing the capabilities of artificial intelligence and simulation workflows to provide insight to the SARS-CoV-2 viral genome and potentially fuel drug... Read More »
Approximately 4,000 people from all over the world will be enrolled in a Phase 3 trial of a combined SK bioscience and GlaxoSmithKline plc (GSK) adjuvanted COVID-19 vaccine candidate beginning this week.
The trial will combine the SK COVID-19 vaccine candidate GBP510 with GSK’s pandemic... Read More »
The Department of Defense (DOD) has awarded $194.5 million across two contracts for COVID-19 test kits and pipette tips.
The awards, made in conjunction with the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), were funded via the American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) to support domestic industrial base... Read More »
The World Health Organization (WHO) released a compendium this week consisting of 24 innovative health technologies that could be used by low and middle-income countries to advance disease preparedness and response.
“Innovative technologies are accelerating access to healthcare everywhere, but... Read More »
U.S. Cotton, LLC has secured a $6.5 million Department of Defense (DOD) contract to increase domestic production of polyester-tipped swabs used in COVID-19 home test kits.
The effort, in accordance with the Department of Health and Human Services, would also aid COVID-19 mass testing... Read More »
Thinking up ways to better address future public health emergencies, the Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority’s (BARDA) Division of Research, Innovation and Ventures (DRIVe) has expanded a partner program focused on technology development to include digital health tools and... Read More »
Health and Human Services Secretary Xavier Becerra declared public health emergencies on Monday for Louisiana and Mississippi due to the effects for Hurricane Ida.
The declaration comes after President Joe Biden declared a state of emergency for the two states. Together, the declarations give... Read More »
Although a United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA)-approved prescription medication, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) issued a warning last week that the drug ivermectin is not meant to be used for prevention or treatment of COVID-19.
Failing to heed that warning... Read More »
The National Institutes of Health (NIH) began a Phase 2 clinical trial last week to investigate any antibody response generated by an extra dose of authorized/approved COVID-19 vaccines among patients with autoimmune disease who experienced no response from a previous vaccine regimen.
The... Read More »
INOVIO received the green light for phase three of its INNOVATE Phase 2/3 clinical trial of INO-4800 last week, allowing it to proceed with efficacy evaluation of its COVID-19 DNA vaccine candidate in Brazil.
Alongside its partner, Advaccine Biopharmaceuticals Suzhou Co., Ltd., INOVIO intends to... Read More »
The largest ever Lassa Fever study in West Africa secured the means of testing this week, thanks to a contract between the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations (CEPI) and Zalgen Labs LLC, which will supply antibody testing kits for up to 7,000 participants.
Zalgen, a biotechnology... Read More »
New data released by Johnson & Johnson this week showed that using its single-shot COVID-19 vaccine as a booster for the previously vaccinated could provide as much as a nine-fold increase in antibodies for patients at least 18 years old.
The news follows interim reports from July, published in... Read More »
Republican leaders on the House Energy and Commerce Committee this week queried the director of the National Institutes of Health (NIH), Dr. Francis Collins, with more questions in the saga of the Chinese Wuhan Institute of Virology, its research and the origins of COVID-19.
Writers included... Read More »
With data from its Phase 3 COVE study showing a COVID-19 vaccine with 93 percent effectiveness, Moderna, Inc. has officially filed for a biologics license application (BLA) to the United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA) that would lead to full licensure.
It’s an important step, which... Read More »
U.S. Rep. Mark Pocan (D-WI) introduced legislation Wednesday that seeks to divert a small percentage of military spending towards global vaccination efforts, vaccinating potentially an additional 30 percent of the world’s low-income population within a year.
The COVID Defense Act would... Read More »
Utilizing initial funding from the American Rescue Plan, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) unveiled plans this week for a new Center for Forecasting and Outbreak Analytics, focused on forecasts of disease outbreaks and analytics for public health.
The new center will be... Read More »
The National Institutes of Health (NIH) announced this week that it will award approximately $53 million in annual funding across the next five years to 10 research organizations currently pursuing HIV cure research.
“June marked the 40th anniversary of the first reported U.S. cases of what... Read More »
Area Port of Memphis Customs and Border Protection (CBP) personnel said the agency routinely seizes low-quality, counterfeit COVID-19 vaccination cards.
This fiscal year, Memphis has initiated 121 seizures totaling 3,017 of the fake vaccination cards. The cards regularly contain typographical... Read More »
The more than 25,000 healthcare workers employed by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) will need to be vaccinated against COVID-19, adding it to a list of requirements that include influenza and other routine vaccinations.
“Our number one goal is the health and safety of... Read More »
