The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation is announcing $40 million in funding to help develop messenger RNA vaccines in Africa.

Two scientists have won the Nobel Prize in medicine for discoveries that enabled the creation of mRNA vaccines against COVID-19 and that could be used to develop other shots in the future.

China is trying to navigate its biggest coronavirus outbreak without a tool it could have adopted many months ago, the kind of vaccines that have proven to offer the best protection against the worst outcomes from COVID-19.

Senegal and Rwanda have signed an agreement with German company BioNTech for the construction of its first start-to-finish factories to make messenger RNA vaccines in Africa.

A CDC advisory group voted unanimously to allow immunocompromised people to get a third dose of a COVID-19 vaccine.

Pharmaceutical company BioNTech says it wants to use the mRNA technology behind its coronavirus vaccine to target malaria.

The Johnson and Johnson COVID vaccine may not be as effective as vaccines that use mRNA technology (Pfizer and Moderna), according to a new study.

A new study has found that some vaccines may offer COVID-19 immunity for years, especially for those who contracted and recovered from the virus before immunization.

The CDC’s vaccine advisory panel said that rate reports of heart inflammation in younger people likely are associated with the mRNA vaccines.

The world’s leading COVID-19 vaccines may offer lasting protection that diminishes the need for frequent booster shots.

In a rare acknowledgement, China’s top disease control official says current vaccines offer low protection against the coronavirus and mixing them is among strategies being considered to boost their effectiveness.

(AP Photo/Michael Sohn, FILE)Moderna Inc. announced Tuesday it has started testing its mRNA-1273 vaccine candidate against COVID-19 in children ages 6 months to less than 12 years old. This is part of Moderna’s Phase 2/3 vaccine study called “KidCOVE” in which is intends to enroll about 6,750 pediatric participants in theU.S. Such trials in children already were underway in children aged 12 to 15. Both Pfizer and Moderna have started these trials and expect to have results from their trials in older children this summer. A vaccine for younger children has not been expected ready until early next year (2022).

The Food and Drug Administration advisory panel unanimously voted Friday afternoon to recommend the Johnson & Johnson’s COVID-19 vaccine for an emergency use authorization. For eight hours, the group of independent experts had reviewed the safety and efficacy of the vaccine. READ: FDA finds Johnson & Johnson vaccine effectively prevents COVIDWhile the Johnson & Johnson vaccine is less effective than Pfizer and Moderna’s vaccines, the experts noted that no one who received the Johnson & Johnson vaccine was hospitalized or died from coronavirus. READ: Here’s what makes J&J vaccine different than the othersAdStudies in children are planned with the older group of children expected to begin receiving the vaccine as soon as early March. There are also additional studies planned in immunocompromised people.

The data that Johnson & Johnson submitted to the Food and Drug Administration for its emergency use authorization was made public Wednesday.

Here’s what to know about the J&J vaccine:The J&J vaccine can be stored in a normal refrigerator unlike the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines -- it’s not a mRNA vaccine. Testing, efficacyThe Johnson & Johnson vaccine has been tested on nearly 44,000 people in United States, Latin America and South Africa. Henry Ford Hospital in Detroit also was one of the clinical sites for the J&J vaccine, so many Metro Detroiters have already received the vaccine. Johnson & Johnson is running an additional trial to test effectiveness of a second dose of its vaccine. AdFeb. 24: FDA says J&J 1-dose shot prevents COVID; final decision soonFeb. 4: Johnson & Johnson asks US regulators to OK its one-shot COVID-19 vaccineMore: Local 4′s Dr. Frank McGeorge answers COVID vaccine questions

DETROIT – Since the coronavirus pandemic began, Dr. Frank McGeorge has been keeping viewers up-to-date and informed on all fronts. You should get the vaccine as close to 21 days after for the Pfizer vaccine and 28 days for the Moderna. The recommendation is to wait at least 14 days between any other vaccine and the COVID-19 vaccine. If you had significant side effects with the first dose you’ll likely have a fever with the second dose. RELATED: Tracking Michigan COVID-19 vaccine dataQuestions about coronavirus?

DETROIT – Making enough COVID-19 vaccine doses for the entire world could take years due to manufacturing challenges. They’re incredibly small, and critical to the COVID-19 vaccine rollout -- and there aren’t nearly enough of them. Whenever we reach out to our companies to ask them whether they could support manufacturing of the lipid components. For example, as soon as they hear it’s to support a COVID-19 vaccine, you know, they’re completely engaged.”Alliances are being forged in the private sector. Greenlight Biosciences, a biotech firm in Boston, has delayed the development of their mRNA vaccine candidate so they can tailor it to the newer variants of coronavirus.

Due to limited quantities of and high demand for a COVID-19 vaccine, states are planning to administer the vaccinations in multiple phases, prioritizing individuals who are at greater risk. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has authorized widespread use of both Pfizer’s COVID vaccine and Moderna’s COVID vaccine. MDHHS officials say that it is estimated that COVID-19 vaccines will be available to everyone who is recommended to receive it by late spring of 2021. Michigan health officials are hoping to vaccinate 70 percent of residents over the age of 18 years by the end of 2021. Initially, five Michigan hospitals would be the first to get the vaccine, according to the Michigan Health and Hospital Association.

Michigan healths officials offered an update Friday afternoon about distribution of the COVID-19 vaccine, priority groups for vaccination and efficacy and safety information currently available. Dr. Joneigh Khaldun, chief medical executive and chief deputy for health, Michigan Department of Health and Human Services (MDHHS), and Robert Swanson, MDHHS Division of Immunizations director, hosted Friday’s event. On Thursday, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) vaccine advisory panel recommended the Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine needs to be granted an emergency use authorization. Initially, five Michigan hospitals would be the first to get the vaccine, according to the Michigan Health and Hospital Association. it’s estimated that over a period of weeks the mRNA is naturally destroyed after it has been used to produce spike proteins.

Questions about the vaccine scienceMany people have questions about the two vaccines closest to approval. Will the benefit outweigh the risk in this case?”Both the Pfizer and the Moderna vaccines are mRNA vaccines, meaning they are not live virus vaccines. it’s estimated that over a period of weeks the mRNA is naturally destroyed after it has been used to produce spike proteins. Should you get an antibody test to determine your ranking for the vaccine? Another related question is if you should get an antibody test to help determine your ranking for receiving the vaccine?

How could scientists race out COVID-19 vaccines so fast without cutting corners? A head start helped -- over a decade of behind-the-scenes research that had new vaccine technology poised for a challenge just as the coronavirus erupted. Both shots -- one made by Pfizer and BioNTech, the other by Moderna and the National Institutes of Health -- are so-called messenger RNA, or mRNA, vaccines, a brand-new technology. U.S. regulators are set to decide this month whether to allow emergency use, paving the way for rationed shots that will start with health workers and nursing home residents. Traditionally, making vaccines required growing viruses or pieces of viruses — often in giant vats of cells or, like most flu shots, in chicken eggs — and then purifying them before next steps in brewing shots.

DETROIT The first group of volunteers in Michigan to participate in the Moderna COVID-19 vaccine study received their first shots Wednesday, Henry Ford Health System announced. Henry Ford Health System is the only hospital in Michigan selected as a trial site for phase three of the Moderna mRNA-1273 Coronavirus Efficacy (COVE) vaccine study. This is a historic moment, said Dr. Marcus Zervos, division chief of Infectious Disease for Henry Ford Health System. I give them all the respect in the world.The first dose of the Moderna COVID-19 vaccine study in Michigan was administered Wednesday, Aug. 5, 2020. About 90 healthcare systems across the United States are working competitively to enroll a total of 30,000 volunteers to participate in the Moderna vaccine study.