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Scientists Are Testing MRNA Vaccines To Protect Cows And People Against Bird Flu
The bird flu outbreak in dairy cows in the United States has prompted the creation of new, next-generation mRNA vaccines, similar to COVID-19 shots, currently being tested in animals and humans.
Next month, the USDA will begin evaluating a vaccine created by University of Pennsylvania researchers by administering it to calves. The theory is that if cow vaccination protects dairy workers, there would be fewer opportunities for the virus to infect people and change in ways that could lead to human-to-human transmission.
Meanwhile, the US Department of Health and Human Services has been speaking with manufacturers about potential mRNA flu vaccinations for humans, which, if necessary, could supplement millions of bird flu vaccine doses currently in the government’s possession.
“If there’s a pandemic, there’s going to be a huge demand for vaccine,” said Richard Webby, flu researcher at St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital in Memphis. “The more different (vaccine manufacturing) platforms that can respond to that, the better.”
MRNA | Pixa Bay Image
Scientists Are Testing MRNA Vaccines To Protect Cows And People Against Bird Flu
Since 2020, the bird flu virus has spread to a wider range of animal species in several countries. It was discovered in dairy herds in the United States in March, although researchers believe it was present in cows as early as December. This week, the USDA revealed that it had been discovered in alpacas for the first time.
At least three people working on farms with infected cows were diagnosed with bird flu, albeit their symptoms were mild.
However, previous forms of the same H5N1 flu virus have been extremely fatal to people in other parts of the world. Officials are taking precautions in case the virus mutates and becomes more lethal or spreads more easily from person to person.
Most flu vaccinations have traditionally been manufactured using an egg-based technology that has been in use for over 70 years. It entails injecting a candidate virus into fertilized chicken eggs, which are then cultured for several days to allow the viruses to develop. Fluid from the eggs is extracted and utilized to make vaccines, with deceased or weakened viruses priming the immune system.
Officials say they already have two candidate vaccines for humans that appear to be well-matched to the avian flu virus seen in dairy animals in the United States. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention developed the seed strain from the circulating avian flu virus.
MRNA | Pixa Bay Image
Scientists Are Testing MRNA Vaccines To Protect Cows And People Against Bird Flu
Federal health experts say the government possesses hundreds of thousands of vaccine doses in pre-filled syringes and vials that could be distributed within weeks if necessary.
They also claim to have mass antigens capable of producing over 10 million additional doses, which could be packed, finished, and distributed in months. CSL Seqirus, a manufacturer of cell-based flu vaccine, stated this week that the government has engaged it to fill and finish around 4.8 million of those doses. Health officials in the United States stated last week that the work might be completed by late summer.
However, flu vaccine production lines are currently working on seasonal vaccinations for this fall, which would have to be delayed to produce millions of additional doses of bird flu vaccine. So, the government has taken a different, faster approach: the mRNA technology used to create the principal vaccinations against COVID-19.
Messenger RNA vaccines are created by combining a small part of the virus’s genetic material. The genetic blueprint instructs the body to produce a protein that helps build immunity.
Moderna Pharmaceuticals already has a bird flu mRNA vaccine that is in very early human development. Moderna stated, “we are in discussions with the US government on advancing our pandemic flu candidate.”
Similar work has been done at Pfizer. In December, company researchers administered an mRNA vaccine to human volunteers against a bird flu strain comparable to—but not identical to—the one seen in cows. Since then, researchers conducted a lab trial in which blood samples from those participants were exposed to the strain found on dairy farms and discovered “notable increases in antibody responses,” according to Pfizer.
Penn immunologist Scott Hensley developed the experimental doses of the cow vaccine in collaboration with mRNA pioneer and Nobel laureate Drew Weissman. Hensley stated that the vaccination is identical to the Moderna one for humans.
In preliminary tests, mice and ferrets exhibited substantial avian flu virus-fighting antibodies following immunization.
In another experiment, researchers vaccinated one set of ferrets and then purposely infected them, comparing the results to ferrets who had not been vaccinated. Hensley stated that all vaccinated animals lived, but the unvaccinated did not.
MRNA | Pixa Bay Image
Scientists Are Testing MRNA Vaccines To Protect Cows And People Against Bird Flu
“The vaccine was really successful,” said Webby, whose lab collaborated with Hensley last year.
The cow study will resemble the preliminary testing conducted on smaller animals. The objective is to vaccinate roughly ten calves, half with one dose and half with another. Then, their blood will be collected and tested to determine how many avian flu-fighting antibodies were created.
According to Hensley, the USDA study will need to first find the appropriate dose for such a huge animal before examining whether it protects them like it did smaller animals.
What “scares me the most is the amount of interaction between cattle and humans,” Hensley stated.
“We’re not talking about an animal that lives on a mountain top,” he stated. “If this was a bobcat outbreak I’d feel bad for the bobcats, but that’s not a big human risk.”
If a vaccine reduces the amount of virus in the cow, “then eventually we reduce the chance that a mutant virus that spreads in humans will emerge,” he explained.
SOURCE – (AP)
NBC is bringing a version of legendary sportscaster Al Michaels back to the Olympics this summer, but with an unexpected twist: his voice will be powered by artificial intelligence.
On Wednesday, NBC said that it will utilize AI software to reproduce Michaels’ voice to offer daily Summer Games summaries to users of its Peacock streaming platform. This marks a significant milestone in the application of AI by a major media firm.
NBC | CTV Image
NBC To Use AI Version Of Announcer Al Michaels’ Voice For Olympics Recaps
The employment of an artificial intelligence voice for the Olympics comes at a time when technology has advanced dramatically, particularly in its ability to generate images, sounds, and text. This has sparked concerns in creative industries, such as journalism, regarding how artificial intelligence may—or should—be utilized.
A new tool, “Your Daily Olympic Recap on Peacock,” will allow subscribers to create 10-minute highlights packages incorporating event updates, athlete back stories, and other related content based on their preferences.
The company stated that the highlights could be packaged in approximately 7 million distinct ways, based on 5,000 hours of live coverage in Paris, thereby making AI (artificial intelligence, not the guy) a far more efficient way to give individualized summaries.
“When I was approached about this, I was skeptical but obviously curious,” Michaels stated in a press statement. “Then I saw a demonstration of what they had in mind. I replied, ‘I’m in.'”
An NBC representative told CNN that Michaels is being rewarded for his participation.
A veteran broadcaster, Michaels is now the play-by-play sportscaster for Thursday Night Football on Amazon Prime. He is well noted for his work on earlier Olympic Games broadcasts for NBC and ABC and for announcing the Miracle on Ice Game at the 1980 Winter Olympics in Lake Placid, New York.
NBC | Fox Image
NBC To Use AI Version Of Announcer Al Michaels’ Voice For Olympics Recaps
NBC stated that the AI system was trained using previous NBC broadcast audio from Michaels.
The business stated that a team of NBC Sports editors will evaluate all of the content, including audio and footage, to ensure that it is factually correct and that names are pronounced correctly.
Beginning July 27, the highlights tool will be available on Peacock in web browsers and iOS and iPad apps.
SOURCE – CNN
Jamie Foxx has yet to publicly divulge the reason for his hospitalization last year, although he did share further facts during a videotaped encounter.
The Oscar-winning actor was hospitalized in April 2023 due to a health problem while filming the Netflix film “Back in Action” in Atlanta.
In a TikTok video posted this week, Foxx informs an unidentified group of people that he has a “bad headache” on April 11, 2023. He remembers asking his friend for an Advil, and then “I was gone for 20 days.”
Jamie Foxx Shares New Details About Health Crisis That Left Him ‘Gone For 20 Days’
“I don’t remember anything,” he claimed in a video shot on June 29 in Phoenix.
Foxx went on to say in the video that he was told his sister and daughter took him to the doctor, who him a cortisone shot. Another doctor told him something was “going on up there,” as Foxx pointed to his head.
“I won’t say it on camera,” he remarked throughout the video.
The singer is known to be discreet about his personal life, and he disappeared from the spotlight at the time due to what his daughter Corinne Foxx described as a “medical complication” on social media.
In July 2023, the “Ray” star revealed that he chose not to reveal more information because he did not want the public “to see me like that.”
“I want you to see me laughing, having fun, partying, cracking jokes, or performing in a movie or television show. I didn’t want you to see me with tubes coming out of me and wondering if I was going to make it,” he said in a video posted on Instagram at the time, adding that he felt like he had gone “to hell and back.”
Foxx provided another health update on his verified social media accounts in August 2023.
Jamie Foxx | Fox Image
Jamie Foxx Shares New Details About Health Crisis That Left Him ‘Gone For 20 Days’
“You are looking at a thankful man…” “I’m finally starting to feel like myself,” he wrote at the time. “The journey has been unexpectedly dark…” “But I can see the light.”
He added that he was “thankful to everyone who reached out and sent well wishes and prayers.”
According to IMDB, “Back in Action” is now in post-production.
SOURCE – CNN
NEW YORK — Hunter Biden filed a complaint accusing Fox News of illegally distributing sexual photographs of him as part of a streaming series.
The president’s son filed the complaint on Sunday in state court in Manhattan over photos from “The Trial of Hunter Biden,” which will premiere on Fox Nation in 2022. According to the lawsuit, the series included a “mock trial” of Hunter Biden on crimes he has not faced, as well as photos of Biden naked and engaging in sex acts.
Hunter Biden | AP News Image
Hunter Biden Sues Fox News Over Explicit Images Featured In A Streaming Series
The lawsuit argues that the distribution of intimate photographs without his consent violated New York’s so-called revenge porn legislation.
“Fox published and disseminated these Intimate Images to its vast audience of millions as part of an entertainment program in order to humiliate, harass, annoy and alarm Mr. Biden and to tarnish his reputation,” the lawsuit states.
In an emailed statement, a Fox News representative termed it an “entirely politically motivated lawsuit” that was “devoid of merit.” According to the statement, Biden’s attorneys filed a letter demanding its removal from streaming sites in April 2024.
“The program was removed within days of the letter, out of prudence, because Hunter Biden is a public figure who has been investigated several times and is now a convicted felon. According to the emailed statement, Fox News has faithfully covered Mr. Biden’s newsworthy events by the First Amendment, and we look forward to defending our rights in court.
Hunter Biden was convicted last month of three felony charges stemming from the purchase of a revolver in 2018. Prosecutors claimed the president’s son lied on a mandated gun-buy form by claiming he was not unlawfully using or addicted to narcotics.
Hunter Biden | AP News Image
Hunter Biden Sues Fox News Over Explicit Images Featured In A Streaming Series
According to the lawsuit, the series’ simulated trial included bribery claims and inappropriate financial relationships with foreign governments, which Hunter Biden has not faced.
The lawsuit says Fox did not completely remove promotional materials and that the program is still available on some third-party streaming sites.
SOURCE – (AP)
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