Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
COVID Vaccine Developed In U.S. Shows Promising Immune System Reaction
The first COVID-19 vaccine tested in the U.S. revved up people鈥檚 immune systems just the way scientists had hoped, researchers reported Tuesday 鈥 as the shots are poised to begin key final testing. 鈥淣o matter how you slice this, this is good news,鈥 Dr. Anthony Fauci, the U.S. government鈥檚 top infectious disease expert, told The Associated Press. (Neergaard, 7/15)
An experimental vaccine to treat COVID-19 manufactured by Moderna was able to induce an immune response in all of the volunteers in an early-stage trial, according to data published online in a medical journal.聽The initial results, published in The New England Journal of Medicine on Tuesday, showed the vaccine was generally safe and well tolerated in 45 volunteers, with no serious adverse events. (Weixel, 7/14)
Within 12 hours of getting the second dose of an experimental COVID-19 vaccine being developed by Moderna Inc., Ian Haydon began to feel chills. Then came nausea, headaches, muscle pain and delirium. He took his temperature: 103.2 degrees. With fluids and rest, the symptoms faded. ... A day and half after getting the shot, he felt fine. Similar side effects of Moderna鈥檚 COVID-19 vaccine were described in a report published Tuesday by the New England Journal of Medicine. Its findings confirm the company鈥檚 preliminary announcement in May that the candidate vaccine prompted the production of coronavirus antibodies in human testers. (Curwen, 7/14)
Dr. Paul Offit, an infectious disease expert at the University of Pennsylvania and Children鈥檚 Hospital of Philadelphia, said that the neutralizing antibodies and other immune responses were a good sign, but that it was not known yet whether they would actually protect people against the virus, or how long they would last. The side effects were a 鈥渟mall price to pay鈥 for protection against a potentially severe disease, he said, though fever may be a cause for concern once the vaccine is given to large numbers of people. (Grady, 7/14)
The data roughly mirror the results from a similar vaccine being produced by Pfizer and BioNTech, which were released July 1. Moderna posted a listing on clinicaltrials.gov, a government registry, that says it will start a Phase 3 study in 30,000 patients on July 27. Pfizer and BioNTech said they plan to start their own large study by the end of the month. There are 23 vaccines in human clinical trials against the virus, SARS-CoV-2, according to the World Health Organization, with more set to begin testing soon. (Herper and Garde, 7/14)
The U.S. government is supporting Moderna鈥檚 vaccine with nearly half a billion dollars and has chosen it as one of the first to enter large-scale human trials. A successful vaccine could be a turning point for Cambridge, Massachusetts-based Moderna, which has never had a licensed product. (Steenhuysen, 7/14)
The discovery of HIV was a long-awaited moment, and Health and Human Services Secretary Margaret Heckler vowed that the scourge of AIDS would soon end. A vaccine would be ready for testing within two years, she proclaimed. ... Thirty-six years later, there still is no HIV vaccine. But instead of being a cautionary tale of scientific hubris, that unsuccessful effort is leading to even greater confidence in the search for a coronavirus vaccine, from some of the same researchers who have spent their careers seeking a cure for AIDS. (Johnson and Bernstein, 7/14)
