The AstraZeneca Oxford COVID-19 vaccine (ChAdOx1 nCoV-19 and also known as AZD1222) now undergoing Phase III clinical trials, has already undergone rigorous testing to ensure the highest standards of quality and safety. Now a team at Bristol University has used recently developed techniques to further validate that the vaccine accurately follows the genetic instructions programmed into it by the Oxford team.

Researchers from 68 sites across the country, led by David E. Leaf, MD, MMSc and Shruti Gupta, MD, MPH from the Division of Renal Medicine at Brigham and Women's Hospital, have investigated the effects of the anti-inflammatory drug tocilizumab on critically ill patients with laboratory-confirmed COVID-19. Unlike steroids, which suppress the immune system more broadly, tocilizumab specifically inhibits the receptor for the pro-inflammatory cytokine, IL-6.

While the Americas urgently awaits a breakthrough, the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO) will only support the distribution of a vaccine that has proven to be safe and effective in clinical trials, reviewed by National Regulatory Authorities and recommended by the World Health Organization (WHO), PAHO Director Carissa F Etienne, said today.

A vaccine project funded by the EXIST programme initiated by the Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Energy (Germany) is developing a second generation Covid-19 vaccine. The "Prime Vector Technologies - PVT" start-up from Tübingen is engaged in a successful demonstration of Germany's scientific capabilities. This new generation of vaccines directly addresses the most common SARS-CoV-2 variants.

The National Institutes of Health has launched an adaptive Phase 3 clinical trial to evaluate the safety and efficacy of three immune modulator drugs in hospitalized adults with COVID-19. Some COVID-19 patients experience an immune response in which the immune system unleashes excessive amounts of proteins that trigger inflammation - called a "cytokine storm" - that can lead to acute respiratory distress syndrome, multiple organ failure and other life-threatening complications.

In a study published online in Science, an international team of almost 200 researchers from 14 leading institutions in six countries, including France with the Institut Pasteur and CNRS, studied the three lethal coronaviruses SARS-CoV-2, SARS-CoV-1 and MERS-CoV in order to identify commonly hijacked cellular pathways and detect promising targets for broad coronavirus inhibition. In addition,

A new study of beliefs and attitudes toward COVID-19 in five different countries - UK, US, Ireland, Mexico and Spain - has identified how much traction some prominent conspiracy theories have within these populations.

The research reveals 'key predictors' for susceptibility to fake pandemic news, and finds that a small increase in the perceived reliability of conspiracies equates to a larger drop in the intention to get vaccinated.