U.K. scientists to make 1 million potential vaccines before tests to prove it works
A million doses of a potential COVID-19 vaccine being developed by British scientists are already being manufactured and will be available by September, even before trials prove whether the shot is effective, the team said Friday.
The Oxford University team’s experimental product — called “ChAdOx1 nCoV-19” — is a type known as a recombinant viral vector vaccine and is one of at least 70 potential virus vaccines under development by biotech and research teams around the world.
The scientists said in an online briefing they were recruiting volunteers for early stage human trials of their shot, and large-scale production capacity was being put in place “at risk.” This means the shots will be produced in large numbers at risk of being useless if trials show they do not work.
“The aim is to have at least a million doses by around about September, when we also hope to have efficacy trial results,” Adrian Hill, a professor and director of the Jenner Institute at Oxford University, told reporters. He said three of the manufacturing partners were in Britain, two in Europe, one in India and one in China.
Tennessee can’t prevent abortions during coronavirus, judge rules
NASHVILLE, Tenn. — A federal judge Friday night ruled that Tennessee has to continue allowing abortions amid a temporary ban on nonessential medical procedures that’s aimed at slowing the spread of COVID-19.
U.S. District Judge Bernard Friedman said the defendants didn’t show that any appreciable amount of personal protective equipment, or PPE, would be saved if the ban is applied to abortions.
In a hearing by phone Friday, attorneys representing several state abortion clinics argued that Tennessee women will face immediate harm if the ban on abortions is not lifted.
Alex Rieger, arguing for the Tennessee attorney general’s office, said abortions are not being singled out but treated like any other procedure that is not necessary to prevent death or serious bodily injury. Gov. Bill Lee issued an emergency order on April 8 banning those procedures for three weeks.
The goal of the ban is to preserve the limited supply of PPE for doctors fighting COVID-19 and to help prevent the community spread of the disease by limiting patient-provider interactions, Rieger said.
Several other states are grappling with similar issues. Judges in the past week have ruled to allow abortions to continue in Arkansas, Oklahoma, Ohio and Texas.
Gyms are eager to reopen, but are they safe?
Gyms are used to seeing attendance drops a few months into the start of a new year when resolutions fade. But nothing could have prepared them for the drop they experienced because of the coronavirus pandemic.
While some gyms continued to collect membership fees, most quickly lost all revenue. Some eventually pivoted to digital and started offering live-streamed workouts. But most were offered for free or directed donations to their instructors.
In President Donald Trump’s guidelines announced this week for reopening the country, gyms were included in the first phase, “if they adhere to strict physical distancing and sanitation protocols.”
Florida begins to reopen beaches
Some Florida residents returned to the beaches Friday after Gov. Ron DeSantis gave the green light to reopen parts of the coast despite the continuing coronavirus outbreak.
Jacksonville Beach Mayor Charlie Latham, Neptune Beach Mayor Elaine Brown and Atlantic Beach Mayor Ellen Glasser said their beaches would reopen exclusively for exercise, not tanning or congregating in large groups.
“Just to be clear, this is an opportunity for people to come out to the beach to exercise a couple of times a day. It’s not a sunbathing opportunity,” Latham said in a statement.
