The public will naturally compare the JNJ vaccine’s 66.9% protectiveness with the Pfizer/BioNTech and Moderna Covid-19 vaccines’ 94% to 95% efficacy. However, these numbers are highly misleading. This article breaks down the reason why it will be a mistake to assume that the JNJ vaccine is 2nd-rated compared to the mRNA vaccines.

People of color, including Black, Hispanic, and Native Americans, are nearly 3 times more likely to die of COVID-19 than Caucasian, white people. However, there is an immense level of vaccine hesitancy among these people, particularly African Americans. Aside from the safety concerns, vaccine hesitancy among people of color is deeply rooted in mistrust in our government and healthcare disparity. If most of our African American and Latino communities refuse to take the COVID-19 vaccines, then we simply won’t get to herd immunity.

So, you think there are microchips or Radio Frequency Identification Devices (RFIDs) in your COVID-19 vaccines? Well, think again—but open up your mind before you ponder—that will serve you well in the end—that’s a promise. I also promise not to judge here. I know many people believe in this conspiracy theory—that the coronavirus pandemic is a made-up marvel for a scheme to implant trackable microchips in humans. A poll of 1,640 people showed that 28% of Americans believe that the Microsoft’s co-founder Bill Gates wants to use COVID-19 vaccines to implant microchips in people.

Vaccines may give you the false sense of security that mask-wearing, hand-washing, and social distancing are no longer needed. Unfortunately, that is not the case for COVID-19. One day we can, and we will get back to normalcy, but we need to continue to patiently mask-up and follow the public health measures for a little while longer, just until enough people are vaccinated. To effectively contain this coronavirus pandemic, we need to leverage both vaccination and reducing our exposure to the corona beast. While vaccination will teach the body to successfully fight off the virus without getting sick, public health measures will decrease our exposure to the COVID-19 coronavirus. Both measures remain mission-critical to tame the pandemic successfully.

The Advisory Committee on Immunization Practice (ACIP) makes recommendations for the allocation of COVID-19 vaccine in the United States. Based on their recommendation, each state has set priorities about who gets the vaccine, and in what order. Although each state will ultimately make its own final decisions about vaccine implementation plans, guided by a team of independent experts, they are trying to ensure that the process is ethical, equitable, transparent, and benefits the greatest number of people. Currently, the states are rolling out the vaccines per need-based categories. Most vaccines are administered at hospitals or public health clinics, but they will soon be available to us via pharmacy chain stores such as the CVS and the Walgreens of the world.

Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna vaccines are mRNA vaccines that leverage the mRNAs to induce our immune responses. These mRNAs instruct our cells to make the viral spike proteins, which then serve as antigens against which our body makes antibodies that can block the virus from invading, and thus, generate protection against the COVID-19 coronavirus infection.

We have received multiple queries regarding whether the mRNAs can mess up our DNA by reverting to a DNA, followed by insertion into our genome. Lately, this has become quite a heated topic in social and news media.

This article breaks down the reasons why the mRNAs from the vaccines won't mess up or insert into your DNA.

A couple of days ago one of our readers had enquired about this important question. So here goes. Hopefully, you will find this article helpful. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) put out a great number of resources on this topic. The short answer is that someone who has recovered from COVID-19 cannot spread or transmit the virus (after a window of time when they are not symptomatic; see below) to others unless they become reinfected with the virus subsequently. Yes, reinfection is possible—please keep reading, as there is more to it.

As the United Kingdom (UK) is facing an upsurge of a mutant, highly transmissible variant of the SARS-CoV2 (the virus responsible for COVID-19), British health authorities are taking “creative” measures to fight the pandemic--particularly when faced with a very limited supply of the vaccines.

A new mutant strain of SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19, is sweeping across the United Kingdom (UK) rapidly. This mutant virus, named the B.1.1.7 lineage, has also entered dozens of other countries, including the United States (US). The UK variant has accumulated many mutations much quicker than the original strain. So, what does the this new mutant strain mean for vaccine efficacy?

Dr. Humayra Ali interviews with BIONOWIN Santé Ave Association. BIONOWIN is focused on professional training for pharmaceutical, biotechnology and health care professionals. Interview focuses on the "value" of COVID-19 vaccine in designing new business models for the health industry, the impact of different COVID vaccines on future research programs, and the urgency of education for public and professionals.

Antiviral drugs are medications that are used to treat viral infections by either curing or controlling the infection. Viruses cause illnesses such as HIV/AIDS, Covid-19, influenza, herpes simplex type I (cold sores of the mouth) and type II (genital herpes), herpes zoster (shingles), viral hepatitis, encephalitis, infectious mononucleosis, and the common cold. Viruses are infectious particles or agents of small size that can multiply or replicate only in living cells of humans, animals, plants, or bacteria. The name virus has its root in the Latin word that means “slimy liquid” or “poison.”

With the first administrations of COVID-19 vaccines, we have now reached a turning point in the pandemic. Now that we have several COVID-19 vaccines available, one important question that we will need to answer is how long will the protection from these vaccines last? People who had COVID-19 infection have generated COVID specific antibodies in their bodies after recovering from the illness. Protection comes when these virus-specific antibodies are formed, but it begs the question of whether it will prevent possible reinfection?

Finally, there is a glimmer of hope, or shall we say several, in the global fight against COVID-19 that has infected more than 62 million people and claimed more than 1.4 million deaths to date. We are approaching that light at the end of the tunnel armed with 3 great COVID-19 (coronavirus) vaccines, thus far, to help us tame this pandemic. Both Pfizer/BioNTech and Moderna had announced that their vaccines are 95% and 94.5% effective, respectively, in preventing COVID-19 based on their interim data.