Pfizer's CEO sold $5.6 million worth of stock on Monday. The company says the stock sale was made as part of a preset plan. But NPR found irregularities about when the CEO entered into that plan.
A team of independent advisers to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has a science-based outline for deploying a vaccine when it's ready. The goal is to stop deaths and viral spread fast.
A vaccine will only work if a lot of people can get immunized. State health officials are working furiously to design outreach and distribution plans, with little clarity from the federal government.
The announcement comes two months after the Russian leader touted "registration" of what was billed as the world's first SARS-CoV-2 vaccine. But neither drug has completed large-scale human trials.
Pediatricians have been asking policy makers to include children in COVID-19 vaccine trials. Now, the FDA has given Pfizer approval to enroll adolescents as young as 12 years old.
"The first question is, is the vaccine safe? Frankly, I'm not going to trust the federal government's opinion," Democratic Gov. Andrew Cuomo said at a news conference.
Volunteers getting the shot help determine if a candidate vaccine works. But what with social distancing and masks, scientists must discern if it's the shot or these other measures preventing illness.
AstraZeneca, which is working with the University of Oxford, hasn't said what the illness is. It will try to determine whether the illness is related to the vaccine, or just a chance event.
The CDC's planning guidance for states includes multiple scenarios for the rollout of a vaccine this year, including possibly having a limited number of doses available in October and November.
New vaccines usually take years to get the approval of the Food and Drug Administration. But the Trump administration suggests the FDA may greenlight a coronavirus vaccine by the end of the year.
If the company's vaccine candidate pans out, Americans can receive it for free under the deal. The arrangement is part of the U.S. government's push to have a vaccine widely available by January.
The National Security Agency, as well as its counterparts in Britain and Canada, say they're seeing persistent attempts to hack into organizations working on a potential vaccine.
