The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is stepping up efforts to track coronavirus mutations and keep vaccines and treatments effective against new variants until collective immunity is reached, the agency’s chief said.
A new, highly transmissible variant of the coronavirus first discovered in Britain could become the dominant variant in the United States by March, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention warned.
The advancing rollout of approved Covid-19 vaccines provides hope to many that existing lockdowns and social restrictions will soon be lifted, but experts suggest a “return to normal” likely will not occur until herd immunity is achieved.
The United States authorized the use of Pfizer Inc’s Covid-19 vaccine on Dec. 11, with the first inoculations expected within days, marking a turning point in a country where the pandemic has killed more than 295,000 people.
U.S. healthcare workers and others recommended for the nation’s first Covid-19 inoculations could start getting shots within a day or two of regulatory consent in December, a top official of the government’s vaccine development effort said.
Governments and officials are voicing hopes that Covid-19 vaccines could bring “herd immunity”, with some calculating that immunizing just two-thirds of a population could halt the pandemic disease and help protect whole communities or nations.
A recent study completed by the University of Chicago School of Medicine suggests a key player should be added to protective measures to stay safe and healthy during the Covid-19 pandemic: Vitamin D.
A roundup of some of the latest scientific studies on the novel coronavirus and efforts to find treatments and vaccines includes the use of miniature lungs and colons to help test Covid-19 treatments.
Antibodies against the novel coronavirus declined rapidly in the British population during the summer, a study found, suggesting protection after infection may not be long lasting and raising the prospect of waning immunity in the community.
BioSpace reviews some of the more interesting recently published scientific studies, including whether the Covid-19 virus relieve pain.
