It's value depends on what you mean by "50% effective." Does that mean 50% reduction in severity because they get partial immunity or does it mean 50% of people still get a full blown case of the disease? Either way, that is AN ENORMOUS benefit. Any boost in immunity or treatment can easily make a huge difference between the numbers treated without hospitalization, the number treated without intubation, the number surviving. And a major reduction in the time to recovery for those who still get it. People need to keep their expectations bounded but also recognize that a partial benefit would be big benefit. Similarly we have flu vaccines and pneumonia vaccines but those only reduce a person's chances of getting a full blown case. For most people in reasonably good health a boost to their immunity gives good protection. The flu vaccine certainly has not in any way even come close to stopping the spread of influenza and their are plenty of people walking around every year with the flu who had a flu shot. But the vaccine may still have kept them out of the flat-lining zone. My point being: Don't knock partial immunity if some vaccine can provide it.
He signed up for a coronavirus vaccine trial using a method that's never been used in humans. Here's why. https://www.cnn.com/2020/04/24/health/coronavirus-vaccine-speed-sanjay-gupta/index.html Despite all his medical knowledge, 31-year-old medical student and Ph. D. candidate Sean Doyle couldn't know for certain all the risks of the injection he had just received in his right shoulder at Emory University Hospital. Yes, of course he was told of the potential side effects, such as soreness in his arm, a fever, malaise. But when you are among the first people in the world to receive a vaccine injection, the real answer about the risks is simply "we don't know." In fact, it's those very questions that he is helping us answer. Sean is helping all of us figure out if it is safe, by putting up his hand first and volunteering. With that injection, Sean had become a critical part of the fastest moving vaccine trials in the history of the world, a vaccine for Covid-19. During a pandemic, the urgency is understandable. In just a few months, the virus has spread to nearly every corner of the globe and sadly taken more lives than several wars or natural disasters combined. It is also true that no one on the planet is immune to this; such is the nature of a novel or new coronavirus. As you process all that, remember that last Thanksgiving, this wasn't even a real concern for human beings, and not even a topic of idle conversation. And, now it is the only thing being discussed in hospitals, boardrooms and at kitchen tables every night, often by Zoom. So, yes. The urgent pace is quite understandable but we have to make sure we can sprint, while also not tripping, falling and getting hurt. (More at above url)
Scientists fear the hunt for a coronavirus vaccine will fail and we will all have to live with the 'constant threat' of COVID-19 https://www.businessinsider.com/cor...impossible-to-produce-scientists-covid-2020-4 Some scientists fear that an effective coronavirus vaccine may prove impossible to produce. The UK's Chief Medical Officer warned on Friday that there is "concerning" evidence suggesting that people can be reinfected with the virus. He said evidence from other forms of coronavirus also suggests that immunity quickly wanes. No vaccine has ever been approved for use against previous forms of coronavirus. David Nabarro, professor of global health at Imperial College, said the world may have to learn to live with the "constant threat" of COVID-19. (More at above url)
And of course the related risk is that there is/was a large number of people out there who do not want to re-open the economy until a vaccine is found. That is an unpretty picture already, but it would be the tragedy of tragedies to hunker down until a vaccine comes along and then find that it is not coming in one year, two years, or at all. The other point of course is that there is a pile of doctors and lay people out there saying that that treatment options are just bondo and duct tape to hold us over until the vaccine arrives. Be careful wit dat line of thinking. It may turn out that a vaccine is an elusive animal and the real benefit will come from an effective treatment method that can take some of the scariness out of it for the difficult cases. or better yet for all cases. Suppose for example resdemsivir works well in the very early stages (or some other drug to come), and everyone who tests positive for covid gets resdemsivir right then, right there as part of their diagnosis visit. And it breaks the virus replication and dreaded cytokine storm and all of that. That could be plenty good even though it is a treatment rather than a vaccine. Less than ideal, but I don't see the Great Spirit guaranteeing the ideal in the form of a vaccine to anyone so I would be looking at treatment intervention as the golden road as much as vaccine. Problem is when drugs are scarce in the beginning we give them to the sickest and they say they don't work when you are too far along for them to work. Got to get out of that somehow and start seeing how these new drugs work on populations that are just noticing symptoms. So you feel a symptom, you go down to the local pharmacy, they give you a covid test, you test positive, then you are routed over the local covid care center and get your resdemsivir or the right drug. Just say no to ventilators. I see that Boris is returning to work tomorrow. He looks like shit and like he was run over by a truck. Good to see that he is back to looking like his old self.
Coronavirus: How India will play a major role in a Covid-19 vaccine BBC - https://tinyurl.com/ycenxhqy US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said last fortnight that India and the US were working together to develop vaccines against the coronavirus. Mr Pompeo's remark didn't entirely come as a surprise. The two countries have run an internationally recognised joint vaccine development programme for more than three decades. They have worked on stopping dengue, enteric diseases, influenza and TB in their tracks. Trials of a dengue vaccine are planned in the near future. India is among the largest manufacturer of generic drugs and vaccines in the world. It is home to half a dozen major vaccine makers and a host of smaller ones, making doses against polio, meningitis, pneumonia, rotavirus, BCG, measles, mumps and rubella, among other diseases. Now half a dozen Indian firms are developing vaccines against the virus that causes Covid-19. One of them is Serum Institute of India, the world's largest vaccine maker by number of doses produced and sold globally. The 53-year-old company makes 1.5 billion doses every year, mainly from its two facilities in the western city of Pune. (It has two other small plants in the Netherlands and the Czech Republic.) Around 7,000 people work for the firm. The company supplies some 20 vaccines to 165 countries. Some 80% of its vaccines are exported and, at an average of 50 cents a dose, they are some of the cheapest in the world. Now the firm has stitched up collaboration with Codagenix, an American biotech company, to develop a "live attenuated" vaccine, among the more than 80 reportedly in development all over the world. (More at above url)
In Race for a Coronavirus Vaccine, an Oxford Group Leaps Ahead https://news.yahoo.com/race-coronavirus-vaccine-oxford-group-191719046.html In the worldwide race for a vaccine to stop the coronavirus, the laboratory sprinting fastest is at Oxford University. Most other teams have had to start with small clinical trials of a few hundred participants to demonstrate safety. But scientists at the university’s Jenner Institute had a head start on a vaccine, having proved in previous trials that similar inoculations — including one last year against an earlier coronavirus — were harmless to humans. That has enabled them to leap ahead and schedule tests of their new coronavirus vaccine involving more than 6,000 people by the end of next month, hoping to show not only that it is safe but also that it works. The Oxford scientists now say that with an emergency approval from regulators, the first few million doses of their vaccine could be available by September — at least several months ahead of any of the other announced efforts — if it proves to be effective. Now, they have received promising news suggesting that it might. Scientists at the National Institutes of Health’s Rocky Mountain Laboratory in Montana last month inoculated six rhesus macaque monkeys with single doses of the Oxford vaccine. The animals were then exposed to heavy quantities of the virus that is causing the pandemic — exposure that had consistently sickened other monkeys in the lab. But more than 28 days later all six were healthy, said Vincent Munster, the researcher who conducted the test. “The rhesus macaque is pretty much the closest thing we have to humans,” Munster said, noting that scientists were still analyzing the result. He said he expected to share it with other scientists next week and then submit it to a peer-reviewed journal. Immunity in monkeys is no guarantee that a vaccine will provide the same degree of protection for humans. A Chinese company that recently started a clinical trial with 144 participants, SinoVac, has also said that its vaccine was effective in rhesus macaques. But with dozens of efforts now underway to find a vaccine, the monkey results are the latest indication that Oxford’s accelerated venture is emerging as a bellwether. (More at above url)
Pfizer: Coronavirus vaccine could be ready by this fall for emergency use https://www.foxnews.com/health/pfiz...could-be-ready-by-this-fall-for-emergency-use To combat the coronavirus pandemic, Pfizer Inc. said it could have a vaccine ready for emergency use by the fall, according to a report. Pfizer CEO Albert Bourla told The Wall Street Journal Tuesday that the company could further be ready for a broader rollout by the end of the year. “This is a crisis right now, and a solution is desperately needed by all,” Bourla told the publication. The company is continuing to do more testing to ensure the vaccine is safe, according to The Journal. The next results are expected as early as next month. While many point to a vaccine as the surest path back to normal, public health experts see another way that’s no less daunting: millions more tests; 100,000 or more health workers to track and isolate those exposed to COVID-19, and a seamless data network to coordinate the effort. Some U.S. states are beginning the process of easing restrictions imposed due to the coronavirus pandemic, but the various plans show that “normal” is a long way off. Among the states with aggressive plans to reopen businesses is Georgia, where officials on Tuesday reported the death toll had topped 1,000 people. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has compiled draft guidelines to help businesses and organizations reopen, and they include businesses closing break rooms, restaurants having disposable menus and plates, and schoolchildren eating lunch in the classrooms
The Anti-Vaxers continue to promote nonsense... Groups sow doubt about COVID vaccine before one even exists https://apnews.com/3287934e9316b008e2a6c7735b7b01df A coronavirus vaccine is still months or years away, but groups that peddle misinformation about immunizations are already taking aim, potentially eroding confidence in what could be humanity’s best chance to defeat the virus. In recent weeks, vaccine opponents have made several unsubstantiated claims, including allegations that vaccine trials will be dangerously rushed or that Dr. Anthony Fauci, the nation’s top infectious diseases expert, is blocking cures to enrich vaccine makers. They’ve also falsely claimed that Microsoft founder Bill Gates wants to use a vaccine to inject microchips into people — or to cull 15% of the world’s population. Vaccine opponents in the U.S. have been around for a long time. Their claims range from relatively modest safety concerns about specific vaccines or the risk of side effects to conspiracy theories that border on the bizarre. The movement is receiving renewed attention, especially as it aligns itself with groups loudly protesting restrictions on daily life aimed at controlling the spread of the virus. Health professionals say vaccine misinformation could have lethal consequences if it leads people to opt for bogus cures instead. “Only a coronavirus vaccine can truly protect us from future outbreaks,” said Dr. Scott Ratzan, a physician and medical misinformation expert at the City University of New York and Columbia University. “But what if the effort succeeds and large numbers of people decide not to vaccinate themselves or their children?” While vaccines for diseases such as polio, smallpox and measles have benefited millions, some skeptics reject the science, citing a distrust of modern medicine and government. Others say mandatory vaccine requirements violate their religious freedom. Rita Palma, the leader of the anti-vaccine group in Long Island called My Kids, My Choice, is among those who say their families won’t get the coronavirus vaccine. “Many of us are anxiety stricken at the thought of being forced to get a vaccine,” Palma said. “I will never choose to have a COVID-19 vaccine. I don’t want the government forcing it on my community or my family.” From the outset of the coronavirus pandemic, vaccine skeptics have tailored several long-standing claims about vaccine safety to fit the current outbreak. When the first U.S. case was announced in January, some alleged the coronavirus was manufactured and that patents for it could be found online. (More at above url)
*Good News* Bigger than the remdesivir news imo. South Korean reinfections turn out to be false positives due to dead viruses in the patients system. https://newsinfo.inquirer.net/12667...-false-positives-not-reinfections-experts-say The committee ruled out reactivation of COVID-19 as a reason for relapses and said there was little to no possibility that reinfections would occur due to antibodies that patients develop. “The process in which COVID-19 produces a new virus takes place only in host cells and does not infiltrate the nucleus. This means it does not cause chronic infection or recurrence,” Oh said.
Very good news. I was thinking the past month about making a dead virus vaccine similar to the HIV one (and all the early vaccines) that I recall worked but everyone was ethics blocked/afraid to use it. This was because if they failed to kill/deactivate the HIV they might actually infect someone. This was expected to happen in a fraction of a percent. In this case however.. Worst case is you get covid-19. If there really is no reinfection you could actually (maybe) achieve herd immunity this way quickly in the low risk population.