Editor's Note After the Food and Drug Administration issued an Emergency Use Authorization for Pfizer/BioNTech’s COVID-19 vaccine on December 11, the company began shipping 2.9 million doses to 636 sites throughout the US. (https://www.fda.gov/news-events/press-announcements/fda-takes-key-action-fight-against-covid-19-issuing-emergency-use-authorization-first-covid-19). On December 14, the first dose of the vaccine was administered at 9:23 am to an…

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Editor's Note This study reports the safety and efficacy findings of the phase 2 and phase 3 parts of the clinical trial of the BNT162b2 mRNA (Pfizere/BioNTech) vaccine in preventing COVID-19 in persons 16 years of age or older. These results are the basis for an application for emergency use…

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Editor's Note Gen Gustave Perna, who oversees logistics for Operation Warp Speed, announced December 8 that the government is prepared to distribute 2.9 million doses of Pfizer/BioNTech’s COVID-19 vaccine by the end of this week or immediately after the vaccine receives emergency use authorization (EUA) from the Food and Drug…

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Editor's Note The Food and Drug Administration (FDA), on December 8, released documents that confirmed the safety and efficacy of Pfizer’s COVID-19 vaccine, the Associated Press reports. The vaccine was co-developed with BioNTech. FDA regulators posted their analysis online, as the UK began administering doses of the vaccine to its…

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Editor's Note Brief huddles, rather than a barrage of emails and texts about safety and risk may be the fastest and simplest way for healthcare workers to avoid communication overload from COVID-19, this study from Baylor University reports. Interviews of 40 workers in two hospitals found the following: Healthcare workers…

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Editor's Note The American Hospital Association (AHA) on December 5 announced that the AHA, American Medical Association (AMA), and American Nurses Association (ANA) released an open letter to the American public on December 1, affirming their support for vaccines as a critical means for protecting individuals and communities from COVID-19.…

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Editor's Note This study led by the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, Bethesda, Maryland, finds that vaccinations with mRNA-1273 (Moderna) have the potential to provide durable humoral immunity. This report describes immunogenicity data for mRNA-1273 at 119 days after the first vaccination and 90 days after the second…

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Editor's Note The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s (CDC) Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices, on December 1, recommended prioritizing healthcare workers and residents and workers in long-term-care facilities to be the first recipients of the upcoming COVID-19 vaccines. If CDC director Robert Redfield, MD, approves the recommendations, and the…

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Editor's Note Pfizer/BioNTech received emergency approval from the UK’s Medicines and Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) on December 2 for its COVID-19 vaccine, making the UK the first country to approve the vaccine, the December 2 BBC News reports. The UK has ordered 40 million doses, and MHRA says the…

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Editor's Note On November 30, Moderna applied for an emergency use authorization (EUA) from the Food & Drug Administration (FDA) for its COVID-19 vaccine. Moderna’s vaccine was developed in collaboration with researchers at the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, where Anthony Fauci, MD, is the director. Moderna is…

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