There are currently 11 Covid-19 vaccines in phase 3 trials — no change from last week. Still no vaccines have been approved for full use.
Vaccine front-runners push forward. A study published Tuesday in the New England Journal of Medicine showed that the experimental vaccine from Moderna, which is currently in phase 3 trials, is as effective in older adults (aged 55 and up) as it is in young people (aged 18 to 55). As my colleague Dana Smith wrote in the Coronavirus Blog, this is good news for seniors, who are at risk of more frequent and severe infections because the immune system slows down with age. On Wednesday, the New York Timesreported that a health official from Russia said that a second Russian vaccine (its first was approved in August) has completed early clinical trials, bringing it closer to approval. Russia’s controversial approval process, however, allows vaccines to be approved for emergency use even before late-stage trials for effectiveness occur.
Chinese citizens are receiving a vaccine. On Tuesday the New Yorker reported that hundreds of thousands of Chinese citizens have already received a Covid-19 vaccine. This vaccine, made by Beijing-based pharmaceutical company China National Biotec Group…
