Month: April 2021

It might surprise you to learn that many of the innovations deployed to counter the coronavirus were once obscure Pentagon-funded projects to defend soldiers from contagious diseases and biological weapons. The life-saving vaccine developed in record time owes a debt to these programs. To learn more, we met the man who has been leading the rapid vaccine effort, retired Colonel Matt Hepburn. An army infectious disease physician, he spent years with the secretive defense advanced research projects agency or DARPA, working  on technology he hopes will ensure COVID-19 is the last pandemic. Dr. Matt Hepburn: If we wanna say we can never let this happen again, we're gonna have to go even faster next time. Eight years ago, Dr. Hepburn was recruited by DARPA. Dr. Matt Hepburn: The DARPA director ...

A medical professor at Trinity College Dublin has called on the master of the Coombe hospital to resign in the wake of the controversy over family members of staff receiving Covid-19 vaccines. Prof Deirdre Murphy, head of obstetrics at Trinity and a consultant at the Coombe, told the board of the Dublin maternity hospital in a letter last week the master Prof Michael O’Connell made “serious errors of judgment” with the vaccination of 16 relatives of staff ahead of priority groups late on January 8th. She said he “no longer commands the respect of his colleagues” following the “vaccine scandal” and the publication of the independent revie...

Tel Aviv University researchers made a groundbreaking discovery in the fight against brain cancer by preventing glioblastoma from spreading, according to a press release. Glioblastoma is an aggressive type of cancer that can occur in the brain or spinal cord. The researchers managed to achieve the breakthrough by detecting a failure in the brain's immune system that can be used against the deadly cancer. The failure in question stems from a protein called P-Selectin (SELP), which researchers used to restore the normal activity of the brain, blocking the spread of the cancer. Prof. Ronit Satchi-Fainaro of Tel Aviv University's Sackler Faculty of Medicine led the international research team in the endeavor. Researchers also compared healthy brain tissues with other tissu...

PORTLAND, Ore. (KTVZ) -- There are no new COVID-19 related deaths in Oregon, and the state’s death toll remains at 2,440, the Oregon Health Authority reported Sunday. OHA also reported 499 new confirmed and presumptive cases of COVID-19 as of 12:01 a.m. Sunday, bringing the state total to 170,568. Vaccinations in Oregon OHA reported that 33,381 new doses of COVID-19 vaccinations were added Sunday to the state immunization registry. Of this total, 22,729 doses were administered on Saturday and 10,652 were administered on previous days but were entered into the vaccine registry on Saturday. The 7-day running average is now 37,256 doses per day. Oregon has now administered a total of 1,156,392 doses of Pfizer, 1,021,822 doses of Moderna and 79,507 doses ...

The Wisconsin Center vaccine site is now allowing people to walk-in or book an appointment.“People really like the idea of being able to walk-in, and that’s why, particularly at our community sites, you don’t book an appointment you just walk in," said Celia Shaughnessy, a site coordinator. "Here now, we have that availability that we can do both, which I hope caters to those that want that solid appointment or have the availability to walk in.” The Wisconsin Center has enough supply to put 4,000 doses in arms each day. However, only about 2,000 people are showing up.“We really do encourage people to come in, it’s important. We’re not done with this pandemic yet," Shaughnessy said. "I spent many months at our testing sites at Miller Park. I’d love to see all those folks who came thro...