Pfizer and BioNTech published on Wednesday new data indicating their COVID-19 vaccine efficacy decline from 96 percent to 84 percent over six months. These numbers are regarded as a big motivator to the drug makers currently developing a third “booster shot” to target the Indian Delta variant. The released data shows that the antibody levels […]
MedTech
Google is postponing a return to the office for most workers until mid-October and rolling out a policy that will eventually require everyone to be vaccinated once its sprawling campuses are fully reopened. The more highly contagious delta variant of the coronavirus is driving a dramatic spike in COVID-19 cases and hospitalizations. Google’s Wednesday announcement […]
Pharmaceutical company BioNTech said Monday that it wants to use the mRNA technology behind its coronavirus vaccine to target malaria. The Germany-based company, which developed the first widely approved coronavirus shot together with U.S. partner Pfizer, aims to begin clinical trials for a “safe and highly effective malaria vaccine” by the end of next year. […]
A South African firm will begin producing the Pfizer-BioNTech coronavirus vaccine, the first time that the shot will be produced in Africa, Pfizer announced Wednesday. The Biovac Institute based in Cape Town will manufacture the vaccine for distribution across Africa, a move that should help address the continent’s desperate need for more vaccine doses amid […]
U.S. regulators have approved a new pneumonia vaccine from Merck, more than a month after OK’ing an improved version of rival Pfizer’s shot. Both new shots offer better protection against bacteria that can cause pneumonia, meningitis and blood infections, as well as garden-variety ear and sinus infections. Merck said Friday that the Food and Drug […]
In a medical first, researchers harnessed the brain waves of a paralyzed man unable to speak — and turned what he intended to say into sentences on a computer screen. It will take years of additional research but the study, reported Wednesday, marks an important step toward one day restoring more natural communication for people […]
Moderna has begun human trials for an mRNA vaccine called mRNA-1010, that targets multiple influenza strains, the company announced Wednesday. The American pharmaceutical and biotechnology firm based in Cambridge, aims on the long run for one seasonal shot for flu, COVID-19, respiratory viruses RSV, and HMPV. The flu shot is designed to target four strains of influenza viruses that circulate seasonally each year, just like the current quadrivalent flu vaccines on the market. The four virus […]
People who have a pacemaker or an implantable cardioverter defibrillator should be aware that the magnets used in common tech gadgets may potentially interfere with their medical devices. Accordingly, Apple published a list of its products that might risk tampering with medical devices such as pacemakers and implanted defibrillators. The Big Tech company advised its […]
The World Health Organization said Thursday that any COVID-19 vaccines it has authorized for emergency use should be recognized by countries as they open up their borders to inoculated travelers. The move could challenge Western countries to broaden their acceptance of two apparently less effective Chinese vaccines, which the U.N. health agency has licensed but […]
Scientists at MIT and Harvard University have created a smart face mask that can detect COVID-19 results of the person wearing it within about 90 minutes. The masks are implanted with tiny, non-reusable sensors that can be attached into other face masks and could also be altered to detect other viruses. The sensors are based […]