Sandile Cele u. a.: SARS-CoV-2 Omicron has extensive but incomplete escape of Pfizer BNT162b2 elicited neutralization and requires ACE2 for infection, Dezember 17, 2021, online in: https://doi.org/10.1101/2021.12.08.21267417. The emergence of SARS-CoV-2 Omicron, first identified in Botswana and South Africa, may compromise vaccine effectiveness and the ability of antibodies triggered by previous infection to protect against re-infection. Here the authors investigated whether Omicron escapes antibody neutralization in South Africans, either previously SARS-CoV-2 infected or uninfected, who were vaccinated with Pfizer BNT162b2. They also investigated if Omicron requires the ACE2 receptor to infect cells.
Medical Measures
32 posts
Daniel J. Sheward, Changil Kim, Roy A. Ehling, Alec Pankow, View ORCID ProfileXaquin Castro Dopico, Darren Martin, Sai Reddy, Joakim Dillner, Gunilla B. Karlsson Hedestam, Jan Albert, Ben Murrell: New Results. Variable loss of antibody potency against SARS-CoV-2 B.1.1.529 (Omicron) [Preprint], December 20, 2021. The recently-emerged SARS-CoV-2 B.1.1.529 variant (Omicron) is spreading rapidly in many countries, with a spike that is highly diverged from the pandemic founder, raising fears that it may evade neutralizing antibody responses. The authors cloned the Omicron spike from a diagnostic sample which allowed us to rapidly establish an Omicron pseudotyped virus neutralization assay, sharing initial […]
Businesswire.com: Pfizer and BioNTech Provide Update on Omicron, December 8, 2021. On December 8, 2021, Pfizer Inc. and BiontTEch SE announced the results of a laboratory study on their vaccines.
Paul D. Thacker: Covid-19: Researcher blows the whistle on data integrity issues in Pfizer’s vaccine trial, in: BMJ 375 (November 2, 2021) n2635, online in: https://doi.org/10.1136/bmj.n2635. In the fall of 2020, chairmann and chief executive Albert Bourla stated in an open letter that accurately predicting an approval date for a Pfizer vaccine in the U.S. would be difficult. He reminded the audience that they were “operating at the speed of science”. Researchers who participated in Pfizer’s vaccine trials complained that the picked up speed might be detrimental to data integrity and patient safety.
Benjamin F. Maier, Marc Wiedermann, Angelique Burdinski, Pascal Klamser, Mirjam A. Jenny, Cornelia Betsch,Dirk Brockmann: Germany’s current COVID-19 crisis is mainly driven by the unvaccinated, in: medRxiv (26.11.2021), online in: https://doi.org/10.1101/2021.11.24.21266831. Vaccines are the most powerful pharmaceutical tool to combat the COVID-19 pandemic. While the majority (about 65%) of the German population were fully vaccinated, incidence started growing exponentially in October 2021 with about 41% of recorded new cases aged twelve or above being symptomatic breakthrough infections, presumably also contributing to the dynamics.
Sara Reardon: Kubas Impfstoffe halten offenbar, was sie versprechen (Cuba’s vaccines apparently deliver what they promise), in: Spektrum.de (25.11.2021). In her article, the author describes the efficacy of Cuban vaccines: Soberana has a high efficacy of 92.4 percent in clinical trials. She also says the Abdala vaccine is similarly good.
Arjun Puranik, Patrick J. Lenehan, Eli Silvert, Michiel J.M. Niesen, Juan Corchado-Garcia, John C. O’Horo, Abinash Virk, Melanie D. Swift, John Halamka, Andrew D. Badley, A.J. Venkatakrishnan, Venky Soundararajan: Comparison of two highly-effective mRNA vaccines for COVID-19 during periods of Alpha and Delta variant prevalence, in: medRxiv (August 21, 2021), https://doi.org/10.1101/2021.08.06.21261707. Although clinical trials and real-world studies have affirmed the effectiveness and safety of the FDA-authorized COVID-19 vaccines, reports of breakthrough infections and persistent emergence of new variants highlight the need to vigilantly monitor the effectiveness of these vaccines.
Koen B. Pouwels, Emma Pritchard, Philippa C. Matthews, Nicole Stoesser, David W. Eyre, Karina-Doris Vihta, Thomas House, Jodie Hay, John I. Bell, John N. Newton, Jeremy Farrar, Derrick Crook, Duncan Cook, Emma Rourke, Ruth Studley, Tim Peto, Ian Diamond, A. Sarah Walker and the COVID-19 Infection Survey Team: Impact of Delta on viral burden and vaccine effectiveness against new SARS-CoV-2 infections in the UK , in: medRxiv (August 24, 2021), https://doi.org/10.1101/2021.08.18.21262237. The effectiveness of BNT162b2, ChAdOx1, and mRNA-1273 vaccines against new SARS-CoV-2 infections requires continuous re-evaluation, given the increasingly dominant Delta variant. The authors investigated the effectiveness of the vaccines in […]
Arznei-Telegramm: Neu auf dem Markt. Covid-19-Impfstoff von Moderna, in: arznei-telegramm, No. 52 (January 22, 2021), pp. 1-4. In this issue of arznei-telegramm, the authors deal with the Covid-19 vaccine from the company Moderna.
Arznei-Telegramm: Im Blickpunkt. Impfstoffe gegen Covid-19. Anlass zur Hoffnung oder unkalkulierbares Risiko?, in: arznei-telegramm Nr. 51 (18. Dezember 2020), pp. 89-92. (In Focus. Vaccines against Covid-19: Cause for hope or incalculable risk?). In the December issue of arznei-telegramm, the authors of this article discussed the hopes for an effective vaccine that could help contain the pandemic, and the risks that these fast-track vaccines could pose.
BUKO Pharma-Kampagne (ed.): Nutzen von Covid-19 Impfungen. Wissensstand noch unbefriedigend, in: Pharma-Brief 10, December 2020. (Benefits of Covid-19 vaccinations. State of knowledge still unsatisfactory.) In its article, BUKO Pharma-Kampagne addresses the issue of vaccines against the coronavirus. “Several vaccines against covid-19 are close to approval or have already received emergency approval. But what do we even know about benefits and risks? The media reports high vaccine efficacy of 90% or more. The reports suggest that this means preventing severe disease and interrupting transmission of Covid-19. This is a misunderstanding, probably triggered by the fact that the figures circulating were based […]
Peter Doshi: Will covid-19 vaccines save lives? Current trials aren’t designed to tell us, in: BMJ 2020;371:m4037 (21 October 2020). Publicly accepted criteria for a vaccine are a) reduction of hospital admissions and mortality, b) stopping transmission and c) safety of the vaccine or its side effects. In his report, Peter Doshi asks what it means when a vaccine is declared effective.