US Air Force, Navy hold flypast to salute Covid frontline workers
Texas varsity starts human test of TB vaccine to fight Covid-19
Washington, May 3: The US Air Force and Navy pilots staged a rare joint flyover in three American cities, including Washington, to salute the frontline
Covid-19 responders and essential workers as the country, the worst hit by the pandemic, fought a grim battle against the “invincible enemy”.
Scores of people descended upon the National Mall here on Saturday as the elite pilots of the Thunderbirds and the Blue Angles performed a rare joint flyover over Washington, Baltimore and Atlanta called ‘America Strong’ to thank the frontline workers, some of whom have sacrificed their lives.
The Thunderbirds and the Blue Angels performed flyovers in Maryland, Virginia and Washington, DC, on Saturday before the aircraft travelled to Atlanta, Georgia. A formation of six F-16C/D Fighting Falcon and 6 F/A-18C/D Hornet aircraft conducted the flyover.
Washington is under a stay-at-home order to slow down the spread of the virus but that did not stop crowds from gathering between the US Capitol and the Washington Monument. While many people practised social distancing and some wore masks, the sidewalks around the mall were crowded, US media reports said.
The Covid-19 has claimed 245,000 lives and has infected over 3.5 million people globally.
Houston, May 3: Researchers in the US' Texas A&M University are asking hundreds of frontline medical workers to participate in a late-stage, phase 4, clinical trial of a widely used tuberculosis vaccine that could help boost the immune system and blunt the devastating effects of Covid-19.
Texas A&M is the first US institution in the clinical trial to have federal clearance for testing on humans. Researchers hope to demonstrate that Bacillus Calmette-Guerin or BCG mitigates the effects of the
Covid-19, allowing fewer people to be hospitalised or to die from the pandemic. The researchers are seeking to repurpose the vaccine, which is also used to treat bladder cancer.
BCG could be widely available for use against
Covid-19 in just six months because it has already been proven safe for other uses, the university said.
“This could make a huge difference in the next two to three years while the development of a specific vaccine is developed for
Covid-19,” said Dr Jeffrey D Cirillo, a Regent’s Professor of Microbial Pathogenesis and Immunology at the Texas A&M Health Science Center.
“BCG is not meant to cure Covid-19 but bridge the gap until a vaccine is developed, thus allowing us to buy time until something can be developed,” said Dr Cirillo.
Efforts are underway to recruit 1,800 volunteers to take part in Texas A&M’s nationwide test of BCG’s application for Covid-19.