The Baltimore Ravens are on a short week and scheduled to play the undefeated divisional rival Pittsburgh Steelers this Thursday on Thanksgiving, but a recent development has put this holiday matchup in jeopardy. On Monday, the Ravens registered multiple positive tests for COVID-19, and have shut down their facility. The team learned of the positive tests on Sunday night hours after falling to the Tennessee Titans in overtime, 30-24, and have been communicating with the league.
Ravens head coach John Harbaugh stated that running backs Mark Ingram and J.K. Dobbins have tested positive and will not be available for Thursday night's game against the Steelers. Gus Edwards, who rushed for 130 yards against the Steelers in Week 17 of the 2019 season, is slated to start on Thanksgiving Day. Additionally, defensive tackle Brandon Williams is also being placed on the team's reserve/COVID-19 list.
The Ravens released a statementon their currentCOVID-19 situation.
"Late last night, we were informed that multiple members of the Baltimore Ravens organization tested positive for COVID-19, and those individuals immediately began to self-quarantine. We have started the process of contact tracing, and during this time, the Under Armour Performance Center will be closed, with all team activities conducted virtually. We will continue to work closely with and follow guidance from the NFL, team doctors and our medical trainers."
Harbaugh said that Thursday night's game between the Ravens and Steelers remains on schedule as of now. Depending on how quickly the Ravens can identify close contacts from the infected individuals, the game could indeed be played. As ESPN's Kevin Seifert noted, if the NFL finds any "high-risk" close contacts among the Ravens, the required five-day isolation period would force those players to miss Thursday night's important matchup.
This may be the most difficult obstacle the league has been forced to work around up to this point concerning the ongoing pandemic. As the Titans played the Ravens on Sunday, they will certainly also be forced to undergo additionally testing to see if the virus has spread.
The Reggaeton superstar was scheduled to perform his hit "Dkiti" with Jhay Cortez live for the first time at Sunday's AMAs.
Bad Bunny is feeling fine and has not had significant symptoms so far, according to his rep.
The multi-platinum artist won two AMAs, "Favorite Male Artist -- Latin" and "Favorite Album -- Latin" for his sophomore solo album, "YHLQMDLG."
He also used the event to premiere a new Flamin' Hot Crunchy Cheetos commercial in honor of his partnership with the company for the "Deja Tu Huella" (Leave your mark) campaign.
Cheetos is giving back to the Hispanic community via a $500,000 commitment in collaboration with the artist's Good Bunny Foundation.
Another Mainer has died as health officials on Monday reported 186 new coronavirus cases across the state.
Mondays report brings the total number of coronavirus cases in Maine to 10,544. Of those, 9,471 have been confirmed positive, while 1,073 were classified as probable cases, according to the Maine Center for Disease Control and Prevention.
The agency revised Sundays cumulative total to 10,358, down from 10,359, meaning there was a net increase of 185 over the previous days report, state data show. As the Maine CDC continues to investigate previously reported cases, some are determined to have not been the coronavirus, or coronavirus cases not involving Mainers. Those are removed from the states cumulative total. The Bangor Daily News reports on the number of new cases reported to the Maine CDC in the previous 24 hours, rather than the increase of daily cumulative cases.
New cases were reported in Androscoggin (15), Cumberland (43), Franklin (1), Hancock (1), Kennebec (28), Knox (6), Lincoln (5), Oxford (7), Penobscot (18), Sagadahoc (2), Somerset (7), Waldo (3) and York (49) counties, state data show. Information about where an additional case was reported wasnt immediately available.
Only three counties Aroostook, Piscataquis and Washington reported no new cases.
The seven-day average for new coronavirus cases is 205.9, up from 204.4 a day ago, up from 189 a week ago and up from 33 a month ago.
A man in his 50s from Lincoln County has died, bringing the statewide death toll to 177. Nearly all deaths have been in Mainers over age 60.
Health officials have warned Mainers that forceful and widespread community transmission is being seen throughout the state. Every county is seeing high community transmission, which the Maine CDC defines as a case rate of 16 or more cases per 10,000 people.
There are two criteria for establishing community transmission: at least 10 confirmed cases and that at least 25 percent of those are not connected to either known cases or travel.
There are now 84 known cases of coronavirus among more than 30,000 University of Maine System students, faculty and staff, according to UMS spokesperson Dan Demeritt.
Of the 80 cases reported, 22 are among residence hall students.
There are 66 cases with 6 new cases involving students five commuter and one residential at the University of Maine; Three cases at University of Maine at Augusta; Two cases at University of Maine Farmington; One case at University of Maine at Machias; Four cases at University of Maine at Presque Isle; and eight cases at University of Southern Maine with two commuter students released from isolation.
The only two schools in the UMS with no active cases of coronavirus are University of Maine at Fort Kent and University of Maine Law School.
So far, 674 Mainers have been hospitalized at some point with COVID-19, the illness caused by the coronavirus. Of those, 103 people are currently hospitalized, with 45 in critical care and 11 on ventilators.
Meanwhile, 195 more people have recovered from the coronavirus, bringing total recoveries to 7,986. That means there are 2,381 active confirmed and probable cases in the state, which is down from 2,392 on Sunday.
A majority of the cases 6,286 have been in Mainers under age 50, while more cases have been reported in women than men, according to the Maine CDC.
As of Monday, there have been 825,553 negative test results out of 838,605 overall. About 1.5 percent of all tests have come back positive, Maine CDC data show.
The coronavirus has hit hardest in Cumberland County, where 3,599 cases have been reported and where the bulk of virus deaths 71 have been concentrated. Other cases have been reported in Androscoggin (1,390), Aroostook (95), Franklin (196), Hancock (214), Kennebec (696), Knox (194), Lincoln (139), Oxford (292), Penobscot (666), Piscataquis (35), Sagadahoc (136), Somerset (409), Waldo (213), Washington (178) and York (2,089) counties. Information about where an additional three cases were reported wasnt immediately available.
As of Monday evening, the coronavirus had sickened 12,369,978 people in all 50 states, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, Guam, the Northern Mariana Islands and the U.S. Virgin Islands, as well as caused 257,274 deaths, according to Johns Hopkins University of Medicine.
Coronaviruses closely related to the pandemic virus discovered in Japan and Cambodia Nature.com
CHICAGO Coronavirus killed 203 Illinoisans over the weekend, according to state data.
Among the most recent victims were 88 people from Cook County, including a man in his 30s. At least 11,506 people have died from COVID-19 in Illinois, and another 545 deaths are considered to be probably related to coronavirus.
The state also reported 21,903 confirmed cases over the weekend. That brings the total number of confirmed cases in Illinois up to 656,298.
With Chicago and the rest of Illinois firmly in the midst of a second wave of COVID-19, officials are urging everyone to cancel their Thanksgiving plans and stay home. The states top doctor said getting a negative test does not mean you can safely gather for Thanksgiving since you can have and spread coronavirus but still get a negative test.
Coronavirus could kill up to 45,000 more Illinoisansbetween now and March without restrictions, Gov. JB Pritzker said this week.
RELATED:Chicago-Area Health Care Workers Completely Burned Out As Hospitalizations Soar With No End In Sight
To prevent more deaths and to slow down the virus and hopefully avert a full stay at home order the entire state is under Tier 3 restrictions as of Friday morning. The rules close museums, casinos and theaters; cut capacity at stores; stop indoor sports and put stricter rules in place at gyms and salons, among other things.
Chicago is under a stay at home advisory. People are being asked to stay home as much as possible, leaving only for essential things like grocery shopping; to work from home if possible; to stop gathering with anyone outside their household; and to stop traveling.
People should also wear masks and wash their hands regularly, officials have said.
The surge in new cases in Chicago and across Illinois can only partially be explained by increased testing; in reality, there are more cases because coronavirus is spreading so much, officials have said. Theres evidence of that in the way positivity rates and COVID-19 deaths and hospitalizations have rapidly risen in recent weeks.
Illinois seven-day positivity rate was at 11.3 percent Sunday with 92,437 tests reported. It was at 11.5 percent Friday. The figure represents total confirmed cases divided by total tests.
Illinois seven-day test positivity, which measures how many tests were positive out of total tests, fell to 13 percent Sunday. It was at 13.4 percent Friday.
As of Sunday night, 6,072 people were hospitalized with coronavirus in Illinois, including 1,179 people in the ICU and 589 people using ventilators.
In Chicago, 36 deaths and 4,081 cases were reported over the weekend. At least 3,335 people have died from COVID-19 in the city and there have been 149,084 confirmed cases, according to state data.
An average of 2,076 confirmed cases are being reported per day, a 13 percent decrease from the prior week. The citys seven-day positivity rate is at 14.2 percent, down from 15.7 percent the week before.
The city is seeing an average of 12 deaths from coronavirus per day, up from 10 deaths the week prior.
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COLUMBUS, Ohio - Ohios coronavirus case total has surged so much this fall that 1-in-32 residents statewide is now known to have contracted the virus, most of them during just the last five weeks.
The addition of 11,885 cases reported by the Ohio Department of Health on Monday means that the total has doubled to 363,304, from 181,787 on Oct. 18.
Many more people may also have been diagnosed. But Gov. Mike DeWine said the state in the last few days has fallen behind in processing the records both because of the overwhelming volume and in delays from labs.
Deaths reported to date increased from 5,067 to 6,020 during the same time period - Oct. 18 through Monday. But it is premature to know the extent of new deaths that may be related to the recent surge in cases. Deaths often occur weeks after the onset of systems, and then are delayed further until they are reported by the state.
Ohio has reported at least 6,000 new coronavirus cases each of the last 12 days.Rich Exner, cleveland.com
Separate data compiled by the Ohio Hospital Association shows the patient count in hospitals is up more than five-fold since the beginning of October, with 4,358 patients hospitalized as of Monday across the state.
There were 1,685 patients on Nov. 1 and 700 on Oct. 1 as the fall surge in cases was just beginning to take off. Among the current total, a record 1,079 were being treated in intensive care units. This is up from 449 on Nov. 1 and and 196 on Oct. 1.
Though hospital bed capacity has not become a problem yet, hospital officials are concerned both with the upward trend of new hospitalizations and a shrinking amount of available staff. For example, the Cleveland Clinic said 970 of its caregivers were not available, either because they had COVID-19 or were being quarantined.
More than 4,000 COVID-19 patients are now in Ohio hospitals.Rich Exner, cleveland.com
The vacancy rate statewide was reported Monday at 30.5%, down slightly from 30.9% a week ago. There were 8,266 vacant beds, 4,358 in use by COVID-19 patients and 14,516 in use by other patients. Hospital officials have been working to free up more space for COVID-19 patients. A week ago, there were 17,552 non-COVID patients hospitalized.
The ICU vacancy rate was reported at 24.8%, a tightening from 27.5% a week ago - 1,240 vacant beds, 1,079 being used by ICU patients and 2,503 by other patients.
The number of deaths now reported at 6,020 increased by 278, or 4.8%, from the previous weeks total of 5,742. Deaths reported daily over the last week were 24, 41, 0, 65, 63, 55 and 30. The reports lag several days from the actual date of death and sometimes are reported by the state in clusters.
Both new coronavirus case totals and patients hospitalized have been increasing in Ohio.Rich Exner, cleveland.com
The 57,940 cases added in the last week amounted to a 19% increase from 305,364. This compares with increases the previous weeks of 50,390, 33,065, 21,678, 16,607, 13,445, 10,215, 8,162, 6,637 and 6,681.
Ohio had 557.9 cases per 100,000 residents over the seven days, including highs in Noble County (1,012.2 per 100,000), Darke (917.6), Tuscarawas (915.3), Defiance (903.2) and Mercer (901.1).
Six of the seven Greater Cleveland counties were below the statewide average for new cases. Only Lake County was higher at 828.2 newly reported cases per 100,000 residents, followed by Geauga (508.3), Medina County (495.7), Lorain (492.2), Cuyahoga (484.2), Summit (449.7), and Portage (399.5).
Testing for coronavirus is a record levels in Ohio, but not so much so as to explain the increased known spread of the virus.Rich Exner, cleveland.com
The state reported that 5,718,750 tests have been conducted to date. This includes 415,682 in the last week, more than during any seven-day period since the start of the pandemic.
In comparison, the state during the previous eight weeks reported 398,821, 51,979, 328,098, 293,230, 278,874, 273,083, 281,328, 249,350, 232,298, 196,815 and 181,579 tests. During the last week of May, about 60,000 tests were conducted.3
The health department estimates that 230,678 Ohioans have recovered from COVID-19. This is not based on individual case information, but on the number of cases at least three weeks old that have not resulted in death.
Based on the estimate for recoveries, a record 126,606 Ohioans currently have the coronavirus, up from 94,424, 63,196, 44,912 and 35,137 the last four weeks.
More than 125,000 Ohioans are estimated to currently have coronavirus.Rich Exner, cleveland.com
The state is now reporting that the onset of symptoms was as early as January for 107 cases. The seven earliest cases date to Jan. 2 in Erie, Licking, Lucas, Mahoning (2), Summit and Warren counties.
The age range for cases is from under 1 to 109, with a median age of 42. The median age for deaths is 80.
The health department last updated the number of deaths for nursing home patients on Wednesday, with a total of 3,523, representing close to 60% of all known COVID-19 deaths in Ohio at that point. This share has dropped in recent months.
For all cases this year, more than three-fourths of the deaths have been to people age 70 and up. By age group the deaths have broken down this way: under age 20 (4), in their 20s (13), in their 30s (42), in their 40s (96), in their 50s (333), in their 60s (824), in their 70s (1,528) and at least 80 years old (3,179).
Those 80 and up accounted for 44% of deaths from all causes nationally in 2017.
Deaths from coronavirus were known to be highest in the spring in Ohio.Rich Exner, cleveland.com
But for hospitalizations, the cases are more spread out age-wise: under age 20 (549), in their 20s (1,081), in their 30s (1,451), in their 40s (2,128), in their 50s (3,851), in their 60s (5,232), in their 70s (5,547) and at least 80 years old (4,858).
The counties with the most deaths are Cuyahoga (736), Franklin (665) and Lucas (409), with 16 more deaths in Cuyahoga, 14 in Franklin and nine in Lucas.
For the deaths in which race was reported, 80% of the people are white, and 16% are Black. For total cases, 71% are white and 16% Black. Ohios population is 82% white and 13% Black, census estimates say.
Among all cases reported to date, 24,705 have been hospitalized, including 4,454 in intensive care up from 22,478 and 4,223 a week ago. This means up from that in the last week, the state learned of 1,859 new hospitalizations, 204 in ICUs.
The counties with the most cases are Franklin (49,267), Cuyahoga (35,214) and Hamilton (29,462). They are the states three largest counties. Cases per capita are shown in the chart at the bottom of this story.
The first three cases were confirmed on March 9. The total topped 100 on March 19, 1,000 on March 27, 10,000 on April 18, 100,000 on Aug. 9, 200,000 on Oct. 26 and 300,000 on Nov. 16.
The state on April 10 began new reporting standards to include more types of testing and cases identified from non-testing evidence. This has resulted in 19,250 probable cases being included in the total cases reported for Ohio to date.
Corrections in the data are made from day to day by the state. Sometimes the state has reduced the number of cases in individual counties from one day to the next as corrected residency information is received.
The chart below is based on the most recent case data from the Ohio Department of Health. Cleveland.com calculated the cases per 100,000 rates based on 2019 census population estimates.
Rich Exner, data analysis editor for cleveland.com, writes about numbers on a variety of topics. Follow on Twitter @RichExner. See other data-related stories at cleveland.com/datacentral.
Some mobile users may to use this link instead to view the county-by-county case, hospitalization and death chart above.
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So far, it has pulled in only $3.6 billion in funding for research, manufacturing and subsidies for poor countries. AstraZeneca, one of three companies that have promised to deliver vaccines, just announced promising data showing that its candidate is 70 percent effective on average, and potentially up to 90 percent effective. It is not yet known whether the other two will be effective. And it may be difficult to secure the necessary billions of doses in an affordable, timely way because the United States and other wealthy countries have cut separate deals for their citizens.
In recent months, Mr. Gates, who emphasizes that he is one of many involved in the vaccine effort, has hosted online round tables with drug company officials. He has pursued financial commitments from world leaders: In one week alone, he and his wife and co-chair, Melinda Gates, spoke with President Emmanuel Macron of France, Chancellor Angela Merkel of Germany, President Ursula von der Leyen of the European Commission and Crown Prince Mohammed bin Zayed of Abu Dhabi.
In Washington, he has consulted frequently with Dr. Anthony S. Fauci, the nations chief infectious disease expert and a longtime collaborator on vaccine initiatives, and talked to Senator Mitch McConnell, a polio survivor who has been supportive of programs to eradicate that and other scourges. And to help staff the vaccine effort, his foundation has provided millions of dollars for McKinsey & Company consultants.
Some people will say, Why should it be him? said Dr. Ariel Pablos-Mndez, former director of knowledge management at the W.H.O. He has the star power. He has the resources. He cares. There are many players that do things, but not at the scale of Gates.
If the initiative, aided by Mr. Gatess fortune and focus, manages to help protect the worlds poor from a virus that has already killed more than 1.3 million people, it will affirm the strategies he has promoted in his philanthropic work, including incentives for drug companies.
If the endeavor falls short, however, it could intensify calls for a more radical approach.
Amid the pandemic, some public health officials and advocates argue that vaccine makers, many of which have benefited from unprecedented public funding, should be compelled to share their technology, data and know-how to maximize production. India and South Africa, for example, are pushing to suspend the global enforcement of intellectual property rights involving the virus.
Dr. Zweli Lawrence Mkhize, South Africas health minister, said that the usual practices did not apply in this crisis. There has to be a degree of broader consultation that looks at what is best for humanity, he said in an interview.
In this Nov. 5 photo, Donald Trump Jr. gestures during a news conference at Georgia Republican Party headquarters in Atlanta. Trump Jr. has been infected with the coronavirus but says he is currently asymptomatic. John Bazemore/AP hide caption
In this Nov. 5 photo, Donald Trump Jr. gestures during a news conference at Georgia Republican Party headquarters in Atlanta. Trump Jr. has been infected with the coronavirus but says he is currently asymptomatic.
Donald Trump Jr. has become the latest member of the president's orbit to test positive for the coronavirus.
"Apparently I got the 'rona," the president's son told his Instagram followers late Friday.
"You wouldn't know it based on anything that I felt or have seen," he said. "I've been totally asymptomatic."
Trump Jr. suggested that because of his lack of symptoms, his test result might have been a false-positive. "But out of an abundance of precaution, I'll quarantine, I'll follow the regular protocols," the 42-year-old said. "You know, take it seriously. No reason to do anything otherwise."
The president commented on the diagnosis Saturday. "My son Donald is doing very well," Trump tweeted.
The emerging research around the coronavirus suggests that about 1 in 5 people infected with COVID-19 won't develop symptoms a change in scientists' understanding of the virus and its toll. Early in the pandemic, some researchers thought that as many as four out of five people were asymptomatic. It can take anywhere from a few days to a couple of weeks for symptoms to develop.
Trump Jr. said he got tested because he was supposed to go on a father-son trip with his son. "Gotta cancel that trip," he said, adding that he hopes to test negative a couple of times in a row before resuming holiday activities. "Hopefully I can make it up with him a little bit later."
It's unclear how Trump Jr. contracted the virus, but he is just one of many members of the president's circle to have come down with COVID-19 in recent weeks. Trump himself was hospitalized with COVID-19 in October. First lady Melania Trump and the president's youngest son, Barron, also had the virus. Trump Jr.'s girlfriend, Kimberly Guilfoyle, contracted the virus this summer.
Trump's chief of staff, Mark Meadows, tested positive earlier this month, as did several others who attended an election night party held inside the White House. Trump and his supporters have been resistant to social distancing or wearing masks at public events.
A September gathering at the White House to celebrate the nomination of Supreme Court Justice Amy Coney Barrett is thought to have led to several cases. Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, called that gathering a "superspreader event."
Trump Jr. was in good spirits Friday. He asked his Instagram followers for "any good Netflix recommendations" because "I may have a couple days of solo time and there's only so many guns I can clean."
The Agriculture Department shared Thanksgiving food safety tips on Monday. Our data shows that consumers can reduce their likelihood of foodborne illness by focusing on good hand hygiene and other food safety practices, said Dr. Mindy Brashears, USDA undersecretary for food safety. As home chefs nationwide prepare their Thanksgiving meals, proper handwashing and avoiding cross contamination in the kitchen are critical to keeping your loved ones safe. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommends people do not travel for the holiday to mitigate the spread of novel coronavirus. Here are some of the other recent headlines from over the weekend and today that you might have missed.
President-elect Joe Biden plans to reinvigorate the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention by bringing back regular briefings and giving career officials back their crucial roles after being sidelined during the Trump administration, Politico reported on Monday.
Biden and Vice President-elect Kamala Harris are going to meet virtually with the United States Conference of Mayors on Monday, according to the daily transition schedule. Last week they met with a bipartisan group of governors to discuss the pandemic.
On Saturday, the Food and Drug Administration gave emergency use authorization for the coronavirus antibody treatment (from the biotechnology company Regeneron) that President Trump received when he was being treated for coronavirus. In a clinical trial of patients with COVID-19, [antibodies] casirivimab and imdevimab, administered together, were shown to reduce COVID-19-related hospitalization or emergency room visits in patients at high risk for disease progression within 28 days after treatment when compared to placebo, said the FDA. The safety and effectiveness of this investigational therapy for use in the treatment of COVID-19 continues to be evaluated. This is the second antibody treatment for which the FDA gave emergency use authorization.
Moncef Slaoui, chief scientist for the administration's Operation Warp Speed, said on CNN on Sunday that they plan to ship millions of vaccine doses within 24 hours of FDA approval. Pfizer and BioNTech submitted an application to the FDA on Friday and the FDAs vaccine advisory committee is set to meet on December 10. I would expect maybe on day two after approval, on the 11th or on the 12th of December, hopefully, the first people will be immunized across the United States, across all states, in all the areas where the state departments of health will have told us where to deliver the vaccine, he said.
Thousands of vaccine shots could be wasted due to the short shelf life of Pfizer and BioNTechs vaccine, Politico reported on Sunday. Pharmacies set to administer many of the shots are worried about waste, and cash-strapped state and local health departments say they need more money and direction from the federal government, said the report. The federal health department says states have what they need and that the government will backstop any shortages that occur.
Housing and Urban Development Department Secretary Ben Carson wrote on Facebook on Friday that he was desperately ill with coronavirus and the president cleared me for the monoclonal antibody therapy that he had previously received. He believes he is now out of the woods, NPR reported.
The Health and Human Services Department is seeking feedback on how the pandemic impacted health care systems and providers. Many health care systems and clinicians have rapidly reengineered their policies and programs to improve access, safety, quality, outcomes including mortality and morbidity, cost, and value for both COVID-19 and non-COVID-19 related medical conditions, said a request for information posted in the Federal Register on Monday. HHS plans to identify and learn from effective innovative approaches and best practices implemented by non-HHS organizations in order to inform HHS priorities and programs.
The Government Accountability Office told Government Executive on Friday that staff are still reviewing the Trump administrations withholding of funds to the World Health Organization, for its handling of the coronavirus, as a potential violation of the Impoundment Control Act. On Friday morning, three House committees published a report claiming the Office of Management and Budget withheld the funds to the WHO using the same tactic it did to illegally withhold funding to Ukraine last year, which was part of what led to the House impeaching Trump. A senior Trump administration official disputed the findings.
Todays GovExec Daily podcast episode is about the General Services Administrations delay in starting the formal presidential transition, which could harm vaccine distribution plans, among other things.
Help us understand the situation better. Are you a federal employee, contractor or military member with information, concerns, etc. about how your agency is handling the coronavirus? Email us at newstips@govexec.com.
LONDON (AP) Drugmaker AstraZeneca said Monday that late-stage trials showed its COVID-19 vaccine is highly effective, buoying the prospects of a relatively cheap, easy-to-store product that may become the vaccine of choice for the developing world.
The results are based on an interim analysis of trials in the U.K. and Brazil of a vaccine developed by Oxford University and manufactured by AstraZeneca. No hospitalizations or severe cases of COVID-19 were reported in those receiving the vaccine.
AstraZeneca is the third major drug company to report late-stage data for a potential COVID-19 vaccine as the world waits for scientific breakthroughs that will end a pandemic that has pummeled the world economy and led to 1.4 million deaths. But unlike the others, the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine doesnt have to be stored at freezer temperatures, making it potentially easier to distribute, especially in developing countries.
I think these are really exciting results, Dr. Andrew Pollard, chief investigator for the trial, said at a news conference. Because the vaccine can be stored at fridge temperatures, it can be distributed around the world using the normal immunization distribution system. And so our goal to make sure that we have a vaccine that was accessible everywhere, I think weve actually managed to do that.
The Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine was 90% effective in preventing COVID-19 in one of the dosing regimens tested; it was less effective in another. Earlier this month, rival drugmakers Pfizer and Moderna reported preliminary results from late-stage trials showing their vaccines were almost 95% effective.
While the AstraZeneca vaccine can be stored at 2 degrees to 8 degrees Celsius (36 degrees to 46 degrees Fahrenheit), the Pfizer and Moderna products must be stored at freezer temperatures. In Pfizers case, it must be kept at the ultra-cold temperature of around minus-70 degrees Celsius (minus-94 Fahrenheit).
The AstraZeneca vaccine is also cheaper.
AstraZeneca, which has pledged it wont make a profit on the vaccine during the pandemic, has reached agreements with governments and international health organizations that put its cost at about $2.50 a dose. Pfizers vaccine costs about $20, while Modernas is $15 to $25, based on agreements the companies have struck to supply their vaccines to the U.S. government.
All three vaccines must be approved by regulators before they can be widely distributed.
Oxford researchers and AstraZeneca stressed they werent competing with other projects and said multiple vaccines would be needed to reach enough of the worlds population to end the pandemic.
We need to be able to make a lot of vaccine for the world quickly, and its best if we can do it with different technologies so that if one technology runs into a roadblock, then weve got alternatives, weve got diversity, professor Sarah Gilbert, a leader of the Oxford team, told The Associated Press. Diversity is going to be good here, but also in terms of manufacturing, we dont want to run out of raw materials.
AstraZeneca said it will immediately apply for early approval of the vaccine where possible, and it will seek an emergency use listing from the World Health Organization, so it can make the vaccine available in low-income countries.
The AstraZeneca trial looked at two different dosing regimens. A half-dose of the vaccine followed by a full dose at least one month later was 90% effective. Another approach, giving patients two full doses one month apart, was 62% effective.
That means that, overall, when both ways of dosing are considered, the vaccine showed an efficacy rate of 70%.
Gilbert said researchers arent sure why giving a half-dose followed by a larger dose was more effective, and they plan to investigate further. But the answer is probably related to providing exactly the right amount of vaccine to get the best response, she said.
Its the Goldilocks amount that you want, I think, not too little and not too much. Too much could give you a poor quality response as well ..., she said. Im glad that we looked at more than one dose because it turns out to be really important.
The vaccine uses a weakened version of a common cold virus that is combined with genetic material for the characteristic spike protein of the virus that causes COVID-19. After vaccination, the spike protein primes the immune system to attack the virus if it later infects the body.
Peter Openshaw, professor of experimental medicine at Imperial College London, said the finding that a smaller initial dose is more effective than a larger one is good news because it may reduce costs and mean more people can be vaccinated with a given supply of the vaccine.
The report that an initial half-dose is better than a full dose seems counterintuitive for those of us thinking of vaccines as normal drugs: With drugs, we expect that higher doses have bigger effects, and more side-effects, he said. But the immune system does not work like that.
The results reported Monday come from trials in the U.K. and Brazil that involved 23,000 people. Of those, 11,636 people received the vaccine while the rest got a placebo.
Overall, there were 131 cases of COVID-19. Details on how many people in the various groups became ill werent released Monday, but researchers said they will be published in the next 24 hours.
Late-stage trials of the vaccine are also underway in the U.S., Japan, Russia, South Africa, Kenya and Latin America, with further trials planned for other European and Asian countries.
Researchers said they expect to add the half dose-full dose regimen to the U.S. trial in a matter of weeks. Before doing so they must discuss the changes with the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.
The AstraZeneca trials were paused earlier this year after a participant in the U.K. study reported a rare neurological illness. While the trials were quickly restarted in most countries after investigators determined the condition wasnt related to the vaccine, the FDA delayed the U.S. study for more than a month before it was allowed to resume.
AstraZeneca has been ramping up manufacturing capacity, so it can supply hundreds of millions of doses of the vaccine starting in January, Chief Executive Pascal Soriot said earlier this month.
Soriot said Monday that the Oxford vaccines simpler supply chain and AstraZenecas commitment to provide it on a nonprofit basis during the pandemic mean it will be affordable and available to people around the world.
This vaccines efficacy and safety confirm that it will be highly effective against COVID-19 and will have an immediate impact on this public health emergency, Soriot said.
British Health Secretary Matt Hancock said he felt a great sense of relief at the news from AstraZeneca.
Britain has ordered 100 million doses of the vaccine, and the government says several million doses can be produced before the end of the year if it is approved by regulators.
Just months ago, the idea that by November we would have three vaccines, all of which have got high effectiveness I would have given my eye teeth for, Hancock said.
From the beginning of their collaboration with AstraZeneca, Oxford scientists have demanded that the vaccine be made available equitably to everyone in the world so rich countries cant corner the market as has happened during previous pandemics.
Leaders of the worlds most powerful nations on Sunday agreed to work together to ensure affordable and equitable access to COVID-19 drugs, tests and vaccines.
If we dont have the vaccine available in many, many countries, and we just protect a small number of them, then we cant go back to normal because the virus is going to keep coming back and causing problems again, Gilbert said. No one is safe until were all safe.
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This story has been updated to correct that the Moderna vaccine needs to be stored at freezer temperatures, but not the ultra-cold temperatures required for the Pfizer one.
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Associated Press writer Jill Lawless contributed to this story.
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