(Reuters) - Johnson & Johnson’s newly authorized vaccine has started shipping, while a highly transmissible variant of coronavirus first identified in the Brazilian city of Manaus has been detected in Britain for the first time.
SALEM, Ore. (AP) — A coronavirus variant that was first detected in Brazil has emerged in Oregon, the first known case of the new variant on the U.S. West Coast, medical authorities said Tuesday.
In just a matter of weeks, two variants of the coronavirus have become so familiar that you can hear their inscrutable alphanumeric names regularly uttered on television news.
B.1.1.7, first identified in Britain, has demonstrated the power to spread far and fast. In South Africa, a mutant called B.1.351 can dodge human antibodies, blunting the effectiveness of some vaccines.
MOSCOW (Reuters) - A Russian trial testing the effectiveness of revaccination with the Sputnik V shot to protect against new mutations of the coronavirus is producing strong results, researchers said on Saturday.
Last month President Vladimir Putin ordered a review by March 15 of Russian-produced vaccines for their effectiveness against new variants spreading in different parts of the world.
“(A) recent study carried out by the Gamaleya Centre in Russia showed that revaccination with Sputnik V vaccine is working very well against new coronavirus mutations, including the UK and South African strains of coronavirus,” said Denis Logunov, a deputy director of the centre, which developed the Sputnik V shot.
Results of the trial are expected to be published soon, but this was the first indication of how the tests are going. No further details were available yet.
So-called viral vector shots - such as Sputnik V and a shot developed by AstraZeneca - use harmless modified viruses as vehicles, or vectors, to carry genetic information that helps the body build immunity against future infections. ...
Across the United States, and the world, the coronavirus seems to be loosening its stranglehold. The deadly curve of cases, hospitalizations and deaths has yo-yoed before, but never has it plunged so steeply and so fast.
Is this it, then? Is this the beginning of the end? After a year of being pummeled by grim statistics and scolded for wanting human contact, many Americans feel a long-promised deliverance is at hand.
Pfizer and its partner BioNTech said Thursday they are beginning a study to test whether a third shot of their COVID-19 vaccine will help protect against variants of the virus.
