Here are six new developments about the COVID-19 vaccine from the last week:
- Thermo Fisher will begin manufacturing Moderna's COVID-19 vaccine at its plant in Greenville, N.C., beginning during the third quarter of 2021, the company announced June 1.
- The National Institutes of Health launched a clinical trial to study the effects of a fully vaccinated person receiving a different booster shot. The trial will include distributing one Moderna booster shot to 150 people 12-20 weeks after they've been fully vaccinated with either Johnson & Johnson, Moderna or Pfizer-BioNTech's vaccine. A second cohort will also include unvaccinated people.
- Moderna recently applied for full FDA approval of its COVID-19 vaccine for use in people ages 18 and older, the company announced June 1.
- The FDA and Johnson & Johnson are expected to announce soon that manufacturing problems at a Baltimore Emergent BioSolutions plant have been resolved. About 15 million Johnson & Johnson COVID-19 vaccine doses were ruined in March after employees mixed up ingredients with AstraZeneca's COVID-19 vaccines.
- The CDC asked clinicians to report all cases of heart inflammation in patients who received COVID-19 vaccines to its Vaccine Adverse Event Reporting System.
- The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission recently stated that employers can legally require employees entering the workplace to receive a COVID-19 vaccine. In order to not violate EEOC laws, employers implementing a mandate must comply with reasonable accommodation provisions of the Americans with Disabilities Act, Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and additional equal employment opportunity guidelines.