After nine months of suffering, isolation and economic downturn on an unprecedented international scale, the expedited development and approval of COVID-19 vaccines has shown us the light at the tunnel’s end. Having an end in sight is not the same as getting there, however: Inoculating the majority of American citizens in a matter of months would be complicated under the best of circumstances.

In recent months, scientists and policymakers around the globe have rallied together with one common goal: to eliminate Covid-19. Budgets have been revised to funnel money toward research, competitive barriers between scientists and companies have been lowered, and regulatory processes have been reworked to help safe and effective drugs and vaccines get to patients faster. It’s a time of urgency, of disruptive healthcare changes, and of creative problem-solving.

Trust is health’s most valuable player

COVID-19 has made clear that the politicization of health is incredibly dangerous; the health of billions of individuals is at stake, but so too is trust in pharmaceutical companies, in the scientific process, and in government and our regulatory agencies.

December 17, 2020 (Washington, D.C.) As Americans patiently await their turn for COVID-19 vaccination, a group of leading medical, health equity and public policy experts discussed and answered questions as part of a national briefing today about vaccines, including safety and efficacy; equitable access; and efficient distribution.

US regulators have authorised the first coronavirus vaccine for emergency use, marking an inflection point in the pandemic and kicking off what's set to be the largest vaccination campaign in US history.

On a hot afternoon in August, Debbie Honeycutt walked into the crowded waiting room of the Medical Center for Clinical Research, an experimental-treatment facility tucked inside a squat office building in San Diego. She was volunteer number four hundred and ten out of four hundred and sixty-six that the clinic had recruited to test a potential coronavirus vaccine.

NEW YORK, Dec. 9, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- The Michael J. Fox Foundation for Parkinson's Research (MJFF) has received the Advocacy/Policy Award from the Reagan-Udall Foundation for the Food and Drug Administration. MJFF is the second organization ever to receive this award, which honors individuals or groups that have made an impact to improve public health through advocacy and public policy. It was conferred to MJFF at the 2020 Innovations in Regulatory Science Awards Dinner, which was held virtually on Tuesday, December 8, 2020.

Tom Skelton, CEO of Surescripts, recently spoke with Dr. Amy Abernethy of the FDA, about the impact of COVID-19 and the evolving data needs of public health.

ZURICH/LONDON (Reuters) - With COVID-19 vaccine trial results looking positive, governments and pharmaceutical firms face their next daunting challenge: convincing the world to get inoculated.

Public resistance to vaccines has been much discussed this year, but the issue became very real on Monday when Pfizer and BioNTech announced their candidate was more than 90% effective in large trials - hoisting an actual shot onto the horizon.