COVID-19: Vaccine Trial / Hydroxychloroquine

By Kelly Young

Edited by Jaye Elizabeth Hefner, MD

Have a look at some of the latest developments on novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19):

Vaccine trial: A phase I trial in China found CanSino's non-replicating adenovirus type-5 (Ad5) vectored vaccine to be safe and induce an immune response in humans. Over 100 healthy adults were randomized to receive various doses of the vaccine candidate. Fever, headache, muscle pain, and fatigue were common among recipients. A positive antibody response was found in 97% of the low-dose group, 94% of the middle-dose group, and 100% of the high-dose group.

Hydroxychloroquine & chloroquine: A large registry study in the Lancet found hazards associated with use of hydroxychloroquine and chloroquine for COVID-19. Researchers compared roughly 15,000 hospitalized for COVID-19 who were given hydroxychloroquine or chloroquine with or without a second-generation macrolide with 81,000 who weren’t given these treatments. All of the hydroxychloroquine and chloroquine groups had higher rates of in-hospital mortality (16-24%) than the control group (9%). They also had higher rates of ventricular arrhythmia during hospitalization (4-8%) versus controls (0.3%). Meanwhile, the World Health Organization announced that it had temporarily halted a hydroxychloroquine trial owing to safety concerns, Reuters reports.