The coronavirus disease COVID-19 is currently reaching pandemic levels in various countries.
The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, located in Atlanta, Georgia, has scheduled an Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP) meeting on November 23, 2020, to review scientific data and potentially vote on vaccine recommendations.
This meeting's agenda has an afternoon session reserved for an undisclosed 'COVID-19 Vaccine Manufacturer' to be discussed.
The US Department of Agriculture (DoA) published a study on November 16, 2020, that found a lack of SARS-CoV-2 susceptibility in poultry. These researchers exposed chickens, turkeys, ducks, quail, and geese to both the SARS-CoV-2 and MERS-CoV coronavirus, finding no disease, virus replication, or serum antibodies.
This DoA finding suggests that 'poultry are unlikely to serve as vectors for the diseases.'
A recent survey was conducted by the UK market research and analytics firm YouGov asked residents of Brazil, Vietnam, Egypt, India, Indonesia, Malaysia, Mexico, Nigeria, the UAE, the Philippines, and the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia about their attitude to vaccination against coronavirus infection.
On November 17, 2020, the Russian Direct Investment Fund announced 73% of the survey respondents are ready to be vaccinated against coronavirus.
The U.S. FDA announced the creation a special emergency program for possible coronavirus therapies, the Coronavirus Treatment Acceleration Program (CTAP). This program, updated on November 17, 2020, uses every available method to move new treatments to patients as quickly as possible, while at the same time finding out whether they are helpful or harmful.
As of October 31, 2020, the CTAP snapshot can be found at this FDA link.
The CDC Foundation announced it is redoubling its response efforts through the official launch of the “Crush COVID” campaign, which intends to raise support and advance work targeted to end the COVID-19 pandemic
As of November 16, 2020, individuals, philanthropies, organizations, corporations, and government funders have committed $206 million for the CDC Foundation's COVID-19 response, and the Foundation has deployed those funds in over 83 U.S. states, tribes, and territories, as well as other countries.
As of November 12, 2020, over 1 million children have tested positive for COVID-19 since the onset of the pandemic. Children represented about 11.5% of all cases in states reporting cases by age, reported the American Academy of Pediatrics and the Children’s Hospital Association on November 16, 2020.
However, children were 0.00%-0.21% of all COVID-19 fatalities reported and 16 states reported (0) child deaths.
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration announced a new recommendation on November 16, 2020, that authorized COVID-19 convalescent plasma not be collected from individuals who have received an investigational COVID-19 vaccine.
Japan's Cabinet Office announced on November 16, 2020, the GDP increased an annualized 21.4% in the 3-months through September 2020, from the previous quarter.
Additionally, Japan's capital city of Tokyo reported fewer COVID-19 cases and fatalities during this timeframe. During the pandemic, Tokyo's population of 37 million experienced 464 fatalities related to COVID-19.
However, Tokyo reported a slight increase in cases during early November 2020.
Combining timely testing with a shorter quarantine mitigates both the costs of long quarantine and post-quarantine transmission by asymptomatic cases, reported a non-peer-reviewed study published on November 8, 2020.
This analysis shows a reduced probability of post-quarantine transmission when testing on exit compared to testing on entry. By augmenting quarantine with molecular testing, the quarantine duration can be substantially shortened from the recommended 14-day period to a 7-day period, while attaining a similar level of risk.
Massachusetts based Moderna, Inc. announced that the independent, NIH-appointed Data Safety Monitoring Board for the Phase 3 study of the mRNA-1273 vaccine candidate informed Moderna that the trial has met the statistical criteria pre-specified in the study protocol for efficacy, with a vaccine efficacy of 94.5%.
Moderna stated it intends to submit for an Emergency Use Authorization with the U.S. FDA and plans to submit similar applications to global regulatory agencies.
By the end of 2020, the Company expects to have approximately 20 million doses of mRNA-1273 ready to ship in the USA and remains on track to manufacture 500 million to 1 billion vaccine doses globally in 2021.
About 165 million diagnostic tests, excluding antibody, and antigen tests, were performed to confirm if a person has a SARS-CoV-2 infection in the USA, as of November 15, 2020. Overall, the reported infection positivity rate is 8%.
Within the USA, the state of California leads with 17,979,560 tests performed, followed by New York (15,936,802), Florida (12,561,021), and Texas (10,109,092).
The US Department of Defense (DoD)confirmed on November 13, 2020, that over 65,000 active duty personnel have contracted the SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus during 2020. However, there have only been (9) fatalities confirmed related to COVID-19.
And, on November 12th, the DOD reported travel restrictions have been lifted at 147 of 231 installations (64%).
According to a new study published on November 12, 2020, the D614G variant mutation enhances SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus infectivity, competitive fitness, and transmission in primary human cells and animal models. The original spike protein had a 'D' at this position, and it was replaced by a 'G' stated these researchers.
"SARS-CoV-2 is an entirely new human pathogen and its evolution in human populations is hard to predict. New variants are continually emerging, like the recently discovered mink SARS-CoV-2 cluster 5 variant in Denmark that also encodes D614G," said Ralph Baric, professor of microbiology and immunology at the UNC School of Medicine, in a press release.
'This study's data also suggest that vaccine development approaches directed against the WT spike should be effective against the D614G strains.'
A new study in Italy published on November 13, 2020, found Baricitinib as possessing anti-viral and anti-cytokine efficacy. This limited study showed a 71% (95% CI 0.15-0.58) mortality benefit in 83 patients with moderate-severe SARS-CoV-2 pneumonia, with few drug-induced adverse events, including a large elderly cohort (median age 81 years).
And, a further 48 cases with mild-moderate pneumonia recovered uneventfully.
The global COVID-19 vaccine development landscape includes innovative platforms such as nucleic acid, virus-like particle, peptide, viral vector, recombinant protein, live attenuated virus, and inactivated virus approaches says the U.S. FDA. The goal of these vaccines is to prevent the SARS-CoV-2 virus from getting into cells, replicating itself, which then infects a person, causing COVID-19.
As of November 15, 2020, the FDA had not issued emergency authorization for any experimental COVID-19 vaccine candidate.
