Pharmacists prepare doses of the COVID-19 vaccine at the Life Care
Center of Kirkland on December 28, 2020 in Kirkland, Washington.
The Life Care Center of Kirkland, a nursing home, was an early
epicenter for coronavirus outbreaks in the U.S. Karen Ducey/Getty
Images/AFP
Clinical trials to determine the safety and efficacy of
a Covid-19 vaccine candidate from American biotech company Novavax
have begun in the United States and Mexico, the US National
Institutes of Health (NIH) announced Monday.
A similar Phase 3 trial for the same vaccine, called
NVX-CoV2373, is also under way in the United Kingdom, where about
15,000 volunteers have been recruited.
In the US and Mexico, the new trials will include around 30,000
volunteers over the age of 18.
Two-thirds of the participants will receive the vaccine and
one-third a placebo. None of them will know, for the duration of
the trial, what was in the injection they received.
“The launch of this study — the fifth investigational COVID-19
vaccine candidate to be tested in a Phase 3 trial in the United
States — demonstrates our resolve to end the pandemic through
development of multiple safe and effective vaccines,” said leading
US immunologist Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute
of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), part of the NIH.
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The goal is that at least 25 percent of the participants in the
US and Mexico trials should be aged 65 and over, the statement
said.
Emphasis will also be placed on recruiting people who are more
exposed to Covid-19 — African-Americans and Hispanics in particular
— or who present with underlying health conditions that put them at
higher risk, such as obesity or diabetes.
The vaccine is taken in two doses three weeks apart. It can be
stored between two and eight degrees Celsius (35 and 46 degrees
Fahrenheit) — much warmer temperatures than already approved
vaccines from Pfizer/BioNTech and Moderna, meaning it could be more
easily distributed.
The Pfizer and Moderna vaccines are based on a new technology,
messenger RNA, while the Novavax vaccine is a recombinant protein
vaccine.
The coronavirus has spikes (viral proteins) on its surface that
come into contact with cells it infects. These proteins can be
reproduced and presented to the immune system so that it can later
recognize them and react if it is actually infected.
Two other vaccines that have conducted Phase 3 trials, those
from Johnson & Johnson and AstraZeneca/Oxford, are expected soon to
seek emergency authorization for distribution in the US, the
country most affected by the pandemic in absolute numbers
worldwide.
Read more https://swordpress.com.ng/2020/12/29/phase-three-trials-begin-for-novavax-vaccine-in-us-mexico/
The Lagos State High Court in Igbosere has dismissed a
15-year-old suit by Edoh Emmanuel against Ganiyu Riliwan for
lacking in merit.
![image](/2020/10/lawreport.jpg")
The claimant had urged the court to order the defendant to pay
him N2.5million, being 10 per cent of the professional fee for a
service in the sale of a property.
![image](/2020/10/NWLRland.jpg")
He also sought 21 per cent interest on the sum less the $2,000
already paid him, with effect from March 14, 2005, until the
judgment is delivered and thereafter at 7.5 per cent per annum
until fully liquidated.
But the defendant, through its counsel John Oloyede, urged the
court to dismiss the suit because there was no valid contract
between parties.
He drew the judge’s attention to the fact that the court had
twice struck out the suit and that the claimant re-filed it to
waste the court’s valuable time and that of parties.
Oloyede recalled how the matter went through the police
investigation and was thrown out.
To him, such a case should not be allowed to pass through the
litigation process.
Justice Babajide Candide-Johnson, in his verdict, held that the
claimant did not establish the existence of any agent/principal
relationship with the defendant.
He said: “The amount of the purchase price of the house was not
stated nor proved.
“The importance of knowing the price the house was sold and
proof of it cannot be overemphasised as it is pivotal to the court
to determine the amount alleged or claimed by the claimant.
“A mere assertion and or pleaded statement of claim should not
be accepted without proof thereof. Apart from not proving the
purchase price, claimant also did not tender the scale of charges
pleaded.
“It is not within the court’s purview to go fishing and looking
for evidence to back up a claim by parties.
“The claimant asserts that there was a gentleman’s agreement
between both parties, but the court does not know if it was the
$2,000 paid that was agreed…
“The ambiguity surrounding this dispute is overwhelming and
unhelpful and the claimant has done less where he should have done
more.
“In line with the above reasoning, I hold that the claimant has
not satisfactorily proved his case.
“Therefore, the claimant’s reliefs fail and this suit is
dismissed. This is the judgment of the court.”