COVID-19 impact on infant and adolescent vaccine supplies.

Vaccine production is quadrupling rapidly, creating supply chain challenges.

Caregiver willingness to vaccinate their children against COVID-19: Cross sectional survey.

BACKGROUND: More than 100 COVID-19 vaccine candidates are in development since the SARS-CoV-2 genetic sequence was published in January 2020. The uptake of a COVID-19 vaccine among children will be instrumental in limiting the spread of the disease as herd immunity may require vaccine coverage of up to 80% of the population. Prior history of pandemic vaccine coverage was as low as 40% among children in the United States during the 2009 H1N1 influenza pandemic. PURPOSE: To investigate predictors associated with global caregivers' intent to vaccinate their children against COVID-19, when the vaccine becomes available. METHOD: An international cross sectional survey of 1541 caregivers arriving with their children to 16 pediatric Emergency Departments (ED) across six countries from March 26 to May 31, 2020. RESULTS: 65% (n = 1005) of caregivers reported that they intend to vaccinate their child against COVID-19, once a vaccine is available. A univariate and subsequent multivariate analysis found that increased intended uptake was associated with children that were older, children with no chronic illness, when fathers completed the survey, children up-to-date on their vaccination schedule, recent history of vaccination against influenza, and caregivers concerned their child had COVID-19 at the time of survey completion in the ED. The most common reason reported by caregivers intending to vaccinate was to protect their child (62%), and the most common reason reported by caregivers refusing vaccination was the vaccine's novelty (52%). CONCLUSIONS: The majority of caregivers intend to vaccinate their children against COVID-19, though uptake will likely be associated with specific factors such as child and caregiver demographics and vaccination history. Public health strategies need to address barriers to uptake by providing evidence about an upcoming COVID-19 vaccine's safety and efficacy, highlighting the risks and consequences of infection in children, and educating caregivers on the role of vaccination.

COVID-19 Vaccine Frontrunners and Their Nanotechnology Design.

Humanity is experiencing a catastrophic pandemic. SARS-CoV-2 has spread globally to cause significant morbidity and mortality, and there still remain unknowns about the biology and pathology of the virus. Even with testing, tracing, and social distancing, many countries are struggling to contain SARS-CoV-2. COVID-19 will only be suppressible when herd immunity develops, either because of an effective vaccine or if the population has been infected and is resistant to reinfection. There is virtually no chance of a return to pre-COVID-19 societal behavior until there is an effective vaccine. Concerted efforts by physicians, academic laboratories, and companies around the world have improved detection and treatment and made promising early steps, developing many vaccine candidates at a pace that has been unmatched for prior diseases. As of August 11, 2020, 28 of these companies have advanced into clinical trials with Moderna, CanSino, the University of Oxford, BioNTech, Sinovac, Sinopharm, Anhui Zhifei Longcom, Inovio, Novavax, Vaxine, Zydus Cadila, Institute of Medical Biology, and the Gamaleya Research Institute having moved beyond their initial safety and immunogenicity studies. This review analyzes these frontrunners in the vaccine development space and delves into their posted results while highlighting the role of the nanotechnologies applied by all the vaccine developers.

Expedited COVID-19 vaccine trials: a rat-race with challenges and ethical issues.

The intense global efforts are directed towards development of vaccines to halt the COVID-19 virus pandemic. There are 160 candidate vaccines under clinical trials across the world using different molecular targets and techniques. This race for the vaccine has several challenges and ethical issues like compressed timelines, generation and proper management of resources and finances, risks to the participating volunteers due to curtailed research trial processes, geopolitical contentions, misinformation through social media and parallel race with drugs. We feel that the fundamental principles of ethics: autonomy, beneficence, non-maleficence and justice should not be violated in this hastened vaccine development process. We recommend constitute a Consortium on a global platform to formulate, provide and monitor a comprehensive ethical umbrella to the process of vaccine development.

The use of the health belief model to assess predictors of intent to receive the COVID-19 vaccine and willingness to pay.

BACKGROUND: The development of a vaccine against SARS-CoV-2 infection is on the way. To prepare for public availability, the acceptability of a hypothetical COVID-19 vaccine and willingness to pay (WTP) were assessed to provide insights into future demand forecasts and pricing considerations. METHODS: A cross-sectional survey was conducted from 3 to 12 April 2020. The health belief model (HBM) was used to assess predictors of the intent to receive the vaccine and the WTP. RESULTS: A total of 1,159 complete responses was received. The majority reported a definite intent to receive the vaccine (48.2%), followed by a probable intent (29.8%) and a possible intent (16.3%). Both items under the perceived benefits construct in the HBM, namely believe the vaccination decreases the chance of infection (OR = 2.51, 95% CI 1.19-5.26) and the vaccination makes them feel less worry (OR = 2.19, 95% CI 1.03-4.65), were found to have the highest significant odds of a definite intention to take the vaccine. The mean ± standard deviation (SD) for the amount that participants were willing to pay for a dose of COVID-19 vaccine was MYR$134.0 (SD±79.2) [US$30.66 ± 18.12]. Most of the participants were willing to pay an amount of MYR$100 [US$23] (28.9%) and MYR$50 [US$11.5] (27.2%) for the vaccine. The higher marginal WTP for the vaccine was influenced by no affordability barriers as well as by socio-economic factors, such as higher education levels, professional and managerial occupations and higher incomes. CONCLUSIONS: The findings demonstrate the utility of HBM constructs in understanding COVID-19 vaccination intention and WTP.