This is the best news of the week about coronavirus vaccines

[Chris Smith]

• In a significant coronavirus vaccine update, Pfizer and BioNTech announced additional details about their experimental drug that has just started Phase 2/3 testing.
• The two companies revealed critical results for a group of elderly volunteers who weren’t previously addressed. The elderly are most at risk of developing COVID-19 complications.
• Pfizer and BioNTech say that volunteers aged 65-85 developed fewer neutralizing antibodies than the 18-55 groups, but the neutralizing antibodies response was comparable or better than the immune response observed in convalescent COVID-19 patients.
• The announcement also said the side-effects in the 65-85 group were milder than in the younger cohorts.

Health experts like Dr. Anthony Fauci are cautiously optimistic that the world will soon have at least one COVID-19 vaccine that works, which will help us put an end to the novel coronavirus pandemic. A handful of experimental drugs have already reached the final stage of testing, with Phase 3 trials set to include tens of thousands of volunteers. The conclusions will be available at some point in October or November, according to recent estimates, and the first successful coronavirus vaccines might receive emergency use approval by the end of the year. At that time, specific at-risk categories of patients will qualify for early immunization. Healthcare workers and anyone else working on the frontlines, as well as the elderly, are the most likely candidates for early COVID-19 vaccinations. While we wait for Phase 3 results, researchers have released more data from a trial that delivers good news about people with the highest risk of developing COVID-19 complications.

Continue reading...

Today's Top Deals

1. Get the crazy wireless camera that lets your smartphone see anywhere for $29 today at Amazon
2. Amazon’s best-selling coronavirus face masks are 39¢ each today – a new all-time low price
3. Hurry: Amazon has NIOSH-tested KN95 face masks said to filter better than 3M N95 masks

Trending Right Now:

1. I hope this news about pineapples and coronavirus is true
2. A promising new coronavirus cure just failed in its Phase 3 trial
3. Watch SpaceX catch its nosecone fairing with ease

This is the best news of the week about coronavirus vaccines originally appeared on BGR.com on Fri, 21 Aug 2020 at 11:32:48 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Via BRG - Boy Genius Report