The jab, based on well-known technology, remains effective longer than existing ones and has fewer side effects, its creator claims
A Covid-19 vaccine potentially able to give lifelong protection has proved effective on mice and primates and is set for clinical trials. Production is planned for 2024, Japanese scientist Michinori Kohara told the Japan Times.
With all the existing Covid-19 vaccines requiring booster shots to remain effective, the emeritus investigator at the Tokyo Metropolitan Institute of Medical Science decided to create one based on the 18th-century smallpox vaccine, which is credited with the elimination of the deadly disease.
“I have worked on various vaccine technologies such as the adenovirus and messenger RNA, but the vaccine using the vaccinia virus vector is the most powerful of all with few side effects,” Kohara said, adding that the vaccine “can induce antibodies and lifelong immunity.”
According to the researcher, one shot of a recombinant vaccinia virus containing the spike protein of the SARS-CoV-2 virus remains effective for more than 20 months, and “there is no other vaccine that can achieve these effects.” Two shots taken three weeks apart increase neutralizing antibodies tenfold, he said.
Testing the vaccine on avian flu-infected mice and coronavirus-infected macaques proved to be effective.
Clinical trials are set to start in the first half of 2023 with the participation of 150 to 200 volunteers. If the trials, which will be conducted by Japanese pharmaceutical company Nobelpharma Co., turn out to be a success, the final phase will be launched. Mass production is planned for 2024 at the earliest.
Meanwhile, a number of new vaccines are being developed around the world. Cambridge University professor Jonathan Heeney recently announced trials of a new needle-free Covid-19 jab that he hopes will be able to give broader protection against Covid variants and other coronaviruses.
A new Russian vaccine against the coronavirus, called Convasel and created by the St. Petersburg Research Institute of Vaccines and Serums, is set to be registered before the end of the first quarter of 2022, the head of the Russian Federal Medical-Biological Agency Veronika Skvortsova, said on Friday.
World Health Organization chief Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus expressed optimism that the Covid-19 pandemic might be beaten in his New Year message on Friday. He called on all countries to work together to reach the target of vaccinating 70% of the world’s population by the middle of 2022.
Three Tanzanian peacekeepers serving on the United Nations’ mission in Central African Republic (MINUSCA) were injured on Thursday, when their vehicle struck an unidentified explosive device. Â
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The lawmaker has lashed out at the “creepy weirdos” criticizing her recent trip to Florida
Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-New York) has responded to the wave of criticism she received over published photos of her vacationing in Florida by claiming her Republicans critics are taking out their “sexual frustrations.”
Ocasio-Cortez directly responded to multiple critics on Friday after they accused her of fleeing her home state of New York amid a coronavirus surge and sweeping restrictions to take a vacation in the Sunshine State, heavily criticized by Democrats for rejecting strict Covid mandates, many of which Ocasio-Cortez supports. The progressive Democrat faced massive backlash after the photos of her and her boyfriend dining out in Miami Beach were published the night before.
“If Republicans are mad they can’t date me they can just say that,” Ocasio-Cortez wrote in one Friday tweet, pushing back against accusations of hypocrisy and elitism.
If Republicans are mad they can’t date me they can just say that instead of projecting their sexual frustrations onto my boyfriend’s feet.
In a separate tweet, the congresswoman accused Republicans of having “very obvious, strange, and deranged sexual frustrations” suggesting that these from the basis of “the Republican fixation on me, women & LGBT+ people in general.”
“These people clearly need therapy, won’t do it, and use politics as their outlet instead,” she wrote.
It’s starting to get old ignoring the very obvious, strange, and deranged sexual frustrations that underpin the Republican fixation on me, women,& LGBT+ people in general.
These people clearly need therapy, won’t do it, and use politics as their outlet instead. It’s really weird
Ocasio-Cortez also took a swipe at Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis’ office, which had joined in on the mocking the night before. “Hasn’t Gov. DeSantis been inexplicably missing for like 2 weeks?” she tweeted, referring to the Republican governor’s absence from the public eye that has sparked a wave of speculations.
Hasn’t Gov. DeSantis been inexplicably missing for like 2 weeks?
If he’s around, I would be happy to say hello. His social media team seems to have been posting old photos for weeks.
In the meantime, perhaps I could help with local organizing. Folks are quite receptive here 🙂 https://t.co/LmmqT8eLDh
On Tuesday, Democratic Mayor of Orange County in Florida argued that Floridians “should be outraged” with DeSantis over him not showing up in public. While the governor has not commented on the issue, Fox News reported on Friday, citing a DeSantis spokesperson, that the governor accompanied his wife, recently diagnosed with breast cancer, to a treatment center on December 29.
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