Latest Vaccine News
- Thread starter gwb-trading
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Canada first to approve Medicago's plant-based COVID-19 vaccine
Medicago’s vaccine uses technology that does not involve animal products or live viruses
https://nationalpost.com/news/canada/canada-first-to-approve-medicagos-plant-based-covid-19-vaccine
Health Canada approved Medicago’s COVID-19 vaccine on Thursday, which uses GlaxoSmithKline’s adjuvant to boost efficacy, making it the first approval for the plant-based shot anywhere in the world.
The two-dose, made-in-Canada vaccine (known as Covifenz) is authorized for use in people aged 18 to 64, the health agency said in a notice.
Health Canada says its effectiveness and safety in those younger than 18 and older than 64 has “not yet been established.”
Clinical trials suggested the vaccine was 71 per cent effective in protecting against COVID-19 one week after the second dose. The dosing schedule is 21 days apart.
Medicago, a biotechnology company based in Quebec City, along with GlaxoSmithKline, submitted Phase 3 data to Health Canada in December.
The company released data on Dec. 7 that suggests its vaccine candidate was 75.3 per cent effective against the Delta variant in a late-stage study when enhanced by GlaxoSmithKline’s booster.
Medicago’s vaccine uses technology that does not involve animal products or live viruses like traditional methods.
It used recombinant technology, involving the genetic sequence of a virus, with living plants as the host. The resulting virus-like particles mimic the shape and dimensions of a virus, which allows the body to recognize them and spark an immune response.
Canada has already cleared several vaccines, including those based on mRNA technology from Moderna and Pfizer . Last week, it cleared Novavax’s shot for use in adults.
Medicago’s vaccine uses technology that does not involve animal products or live viruses
https://nationalpost.com/news/canada/canada-first-to-approve-medicagos-plant-based-covid-19-vaccine
Health Canada approved Medicago’s COVID-19 vaccine on Thursday, which uses GlaxoSmithKline’s adjuvant to boost efficacy, making it the first approval for the plant-based shot anywhere in the world.
The two-dose, made-in-Canada vaccine (known as Covifenz) is authorized for use in people aged 18 to 64, the health agency said in a notice.
Health Canada says its effectiveness and safety in those younger than 18 and older than 64 has “not yet been established.”
Clinical trials suggested the vaccine was 71 per cent effective in protecting against COVID-19 one week after the second dose. The dosing schedule is 21 days apart.
Medicago, a biotechnology company based in Quebec City, along with GlaxoSmithKline, submitted Phase 3 data to Health Canada in December.
The company released data on Dec. 7 that suggests its vaccine candidate was 75.3 per cent effective against the Delta variant in a late-stage study when enhanced by GlaxoSmithKline’s booster.
Medicago’s vaccine uses technology that does not involve animal products or live viruses like traditional methods.
It used recombinant technology, involving the genetic sequence of a virus, with living plants as the host. The resulting virus-like particles mimic the shape and dimensions of a virus, which allows the body to recognize them and spark an immune response.
Canada has already cleared several vaccines, including those based on mRNA technology from Moderna and Pfizer . Last week, it cleared Novavax’s shot for use in adults.
I caught one of Medicago's first trial patients in the woods in the back of my property after he escaped from the lab facility here in Québec.
sarcasm
wrbtrader
Let's go the the referenced study in the article via the embedded link and see what the study really says...
Antibodies derived from natural infection with COVID-19 are more abundant and more potent – at least 10 times more potent – than immunity generated by vaccination alone, according to a study from Oregon Health & Science University (OHSU) in Portland, US, published on January 25.
As expected the actual study outlines the benefits of vaccination...
Vaccination before or after SARS-CoV-2 infection leads to robust humoral response and antibodies that effectively neutralize variants
https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/sciimmunol.abn8014
So the study says the exact same thing the tweet does. Thanks for confirming!
Antibodies derived from natural infection with COVID-19 are more abundant and more potent – at least 10 times more potent – than immunity generated by vaccination alone,
Now you are just being a clown -- not a single sentence in the referenced study claims that. Here is the link again to the referenced study.
https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/sciimmunol.abn8014
First sentence under "Discussion", and the chart.
Overall, our results show that SARS-CoV-2 infection before or after vaccination gives a significantly larger boost to the neutralizing antibody response compared with two doses of vaccine alone.
Additional commentary on the article:
Three days later, the US Centres for Disease Control (CDC) reported in an MMWR Early Release that before Delta became the predominant variant in June 2021, case rates were higher among people who survived a previous infection than among people who were vaccinated alone. However by early October, those who had been previously infected had lower case rates than those who were vaccinated alone.
.....
For example, a study in Geneva, Switzerland, of people infected in the first wave showed a 15.5% infection rate in seronegative individuals compared with just 1% in seropositives, giving overall protection attributable to infection of 94% - comparable with that in the original Pfizer vaccine trial.
.....
Another study from India showed that seropositivity protected against both infection and severe disease, and suggested "strong plausibility that development of antibody following natural infection not only protects against re-infection by the virus to a great extent, but also safeguards against progression to severe COVID-19 disease".
Natural infection also protects against the different variants that have arisen progressively since the start of the pandemic. A national database study including almost 22,000 people in Qatar published in the New England Journal of Medicine showed that previous infection was "robust" - approximately 90% - in preventing reinfection with the Alpha, Beta, and Delta variants of SARS-CoV-2, and approximately 60% "but still considerable" against Omicron. None of the re-infections progressed to critical or fatal outcomes and the effectiveness against severe, critical, or fatal COVID-19 was estimated to be 69.4% against Alpha, 88.0% against Beta, 100% against Delta, and 87.8% against Omicron variants.
.....
For example, a study in Geneva, Switzerland, of people infected in the first wave showed a 15.5% infection rate in seronegative individuals compared with just 1% in seropositives, giving overall protection attributable to infection of 94% - comparable with that in the original Pfizer vaccine trial.
.....
Another study from India showed that seropositivity protected against both infection and severe disease, and suggested "strong plausibility that development of antibody following natural infection not only protects against re-infection by the virus to a great extent, but also safeguards against progression to severe COVID-19 disease".
Natural infection also protects against the different variants that have arisen progressively since the start of the pandemic. A national database study including almost 22,000 people in Qatar published in the New England Journal of Medicine showed that previous infection was "robust" - approximately 90% - in preventing reinfection with the Alpha, Beta, and Delta variants of SARS-CoV-2, and approximately 60% "but still considerable" against Omicron. None of the re-infections progressed to critical or fatal outcomes and the effectiveness against severe, critical, or fatal COVID-19 was estimated to be 69.4% against Alpha, 88.0% against Beta, 100% against Delta, and 87.8% against Omicron variants.
First sentence under "Discussion", and the chart.
Overall, our results show that SARS-CoV-2 infection before or after vaccination gives a significantly larger boost to the neutralizing antibody response compared with two doses of vaccine alone.
Of course this statement is totally different than "Antibodies derived from natural infection with COVID-19 are more abundant and more potent – at least 10 times more potent – than immunity generated by vaccination alone".
The study makes the case that vaccination is needed and effective. It states that a combination of natural infection and vaccination provides a stronger response than vaccination alone. This was found in other studies as well. However there is no reason to rush out and attempt to get "naturally infected" when the risk of severe illness while unvaccinated is considered.
It should be noted that full vaccination (without infection) still provides a much stronger immune response and probability of no severe illness than being unvaccinated.