The state of the vaccines

Discussion in 'Coronavirus Pandemic Discussions' started by CenterField, Aug 14, 2020.

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  1. CenterField

    CenterField Well-Known Member Past Donor

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    Vaccine news: Sinovac/Butantan's CoronaVac appears to be effective against the UK and South African variants. Pfizer noticed a two thirds reduction in neutralizing antiboides against the South African variant (which doesn't necessarily mean it won't protect but maybe it will only protect against hospitalizations and death which is already good enough). The CoronaVac was approved in Hong Kong. Two Canadian researchers found that the Pfizer vaccine is effective at 92.6% after the first dose, proposing 2nd dose delay while priority groups receive first dose, which I continue to call a mistake. The country Colombia will start vaccinations on Wednesday using Pfizer.
     
    Last edited: Feb 18, 2021
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  2. MJ Davies

    MJ Davies Well-Known Member

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    Up to 90 volunteers in UK to take part in pioneering Covid infection trial

    Human challenge trial will monitor healthy 18- to 30-year-olds given virus to aid vaccine and therapy research

    Hopefully, this will get us a bit closer to a long-term solution.
     
  3. CenterField

    CenterField Well-Known Member Past Donor

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    I don't like it. Human challenge trials are fine when there is a rescue treatment, which is not the case for Covid-19, and there are sufficient hints of severe sequelae for even young and healthy people like heart lesions in young and healthy college athletes in a study in Ohio. The volunteers are playing with fire and if there are long-term consequences, the study is ethically questionable. There are plenty of natural infections in young people which could be studied instead.
     
    Last edited: Feb 18, 2021
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  4. MJ Davies

    MJ Davies Well-Known Member

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    I agree. I've lost two family members. My aunt was elderly (70s) but her son was not (44). Both literally dropped dead. Neither had heart problems prior to contracting COVID-19.

    I am concerned for my children (teens) and a mentee (19) as it looks like our Governor doesn't plan to reopen all schools until everyone is vaccinated. I am not a conspiracy theorist but I have some reservations.
     
  5. CenterField

    CenterField Well-Known Member Past Donor

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    Sorry to hear about the deaths in your family.
     
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  6. Jack Hays

    Jack Hays Well-Known Member Donor

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    Today, 20 February, Mrs. Hays and I received our second doses of the Pfizer vaccine.
     
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  7. wcsu1975

    wcsu1975 Member Past Donor

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    Good post.
     
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  8. wcsu1975

    wcsu1975 Member Past Donor

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    I've had the first Moderna vaccine and had no side effects except for a sore arm for a couple days. I'm glad I took it.e
     
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  9. CenterField

    CenterField Well-Known Member Past Donor

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    Yay!
     
  10. gnoib

    gnoib Well-Known Member

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    Those figures from Israel for the bioNtech/Pfizer vaccine are just outstanding. It lowers the possibility of spreadin, fully vaccinated, by 86% or so and protection is way into the mid 90%.
    Israel is now handing out a green vaccination card, so vaccinated people can resume a normal live.
    They cleared the vaccine for 16 years and older.
     
  11. 557

    557 Well-Known Member

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    @CenterField, the best news yet is coming out. Pre-print, but...wow!

    https://www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1101/2021.02.15.21251623v1.full-text

    Prevention of infection by mRNA vaccines. What a technology! What a time to be alive and witness such an advancement in vaccine technology.
     
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  12. wcsu1975

    wcsu1975 Member Past Donor

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    I, too, am sorry to hear about the deaths in your family, MJ..
     
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  13. CenterField

    CenterField Well-Known Member Past Donor

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    Yep, I had seen it. It's great. I just hope we vaccinate fast enough to prevent more replication, more mutations, and more variants of concern that might eventually evade the vaccines for good.
     
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  14. gnoib

    gnoib Well-Known Member

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    Those mRNA are really kicking ars. Those figures from Israel are just outstanding.
    According to Sahin, it should only take 6 weeks to adjust the mRNA to mutations, that is fast.
    1 week till the second shot. By now I should have already 70% protection, still doing the old Covid routine, lights up me ars and Clorox instead of coffee.
     
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  15. CenterField

    CenterField Well-Known Member Past Donor

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    While this is true for the scientific part of it, do realize that it will take way longer to re-manufacture everything, to get the tweaked booster shot approved by regulators, and to actually get it into people's arms.
     
  16. gnoib

    gnoib Well-Known Member

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    I wondered about that, too. If they just tweak the mRNA and don't change the recipe, what Phases do they have to do ?
    How long would it take to get a EUA ?
     
  17. truth and justice

    truth and justice Well-Known Member

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    My thoughts too. The Flu vaccine is changed yearly something like 3 months before being administered so I can't see why the C19 vaccine would be any different
     
  18. CenterField

    CenterField Well-Known Member Past Donor

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    The difference is that the flu vaccine benefits from a regular authorization, not just an emergency use authorization. For the full, non-emergency, regular authorization the FDA collects much longer safety data, up to two years, and the flu vaccine has been through it already. So, the EUA being abbreviated, a changed product will typically require another EUA. The FDA, though, has mentioned that they will not require phases 1, 2 or 3 to approve a modified product, but will still want to see some animal studies and phase 1 studies.
     
  19. CenterField

    CenterField Well-Known Member Past Donor

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    Brazil's regulatory agency ANVISA has just granted full authorization (not just an EUA) to the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine, but because of their idiotic president who turned down an offer for 70 million doses, they don't have any Pfizer vaccine, and need to continue to try to immunize their populations with the much less effective CoronaVac and Oxford/AstraZeneca.
     
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  20. Jack Hays

    Jack Hays Well-Known Member Donor

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    Like Forrest Gump's mother said: "Stupid is as stupid does."
     
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  21. CenterField

    CenterField Well-Known Member Past Donor

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    Moderna has already made a specific vaccine for the South African variant, and they're starting phase I trials!

    Wow!!! This is fantastic news, and so fast! I'm a fan of this company! American ingenuity as its best. This is our domestic vaccine-maker, 100% American, and supported by the NIH. Way to go! From their press release:

    "Moderna has announced that it has completed manufacturing of clinical trial material for its variant-specific vaccine candidate, mRNA-1273.351, against the SARS-CoV-2 variant known as B.1.351 first identified in the Republic of South Africa, and has shipped doses to the National Institutes of Health (NIH) for a Phase 1 clinical trial that will be led and funded by the NIH’s National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID)."

    Moderna is also studying "a multivalent booster candidate, mRNA-1273.211, which combines mRNA-1273, Moderna’s authorized vaccine against ancestral strains, and mRNA-1273.351 in a single vaccine."

    :applause:
     
    Last edited: Feb 24, 2021
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  22. CenterField

    CenterField Well-Known Member Past Donor

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    Pfizer will offer a booster shot 6 months to 12 months after their 144 phase 1 trial participants got their second doses. This is a step behind Moderna, because the booster will have the same composition of the current vaccine; it is not yet targeting the new variants. All that they want to know is if it is safe to give another dose of this mRNA vaccine to people who already had two doses.

    Seems like on this, Moderna will jump ahead of Pfizer. But Moderna did have a head start back in January 2020 and Pfizer ended up catching up and getting their vaccine approved one week before Moderna, so, we'll see.

    --------

    I forgot to add this piece of news that is a few days old: Pfizer is now saying that its vaccine can hold for 14 days in normal freezer temperatures, no need for the ultra-cold freezers. I find that what is good about this, in addition to facilitating storage and making more sites able to deliver the Pfizer vaccine, is the issue that if some minor break-down of the cold chain happened during transportation and setting-up of the Pfizer vaccine, it is unlikely that it spoiled.
     
    Last edited: Feb 25, 2021
  23. CenterField

    CenterField Well-Known Member Past Donor

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    If anybody wants to follow the FDA's advisory committee's meeting on the Johnson and Johnson vaccine, here it is:

     
  24. CenterField

    CenterField Well-Known Member Past Donor

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    Some concerns did get mentioned in the meeting, such as apparently a larger incidence of blood clots than in other vaccines, and some evidence (although with no sufficient number of subjects to be certain) that the J&J vaccine is less efficacious for people aged 60 and over. So, these concerns might motivate the FDA and the CDC to limit the range of this vaccine (say, in people with no history of clotting disorders, in people younger than 60) but the obvious advantage of a single shot and no straining refrigeration needs makes it very likely that the EUA will be granted.
     
  25. CenterField

    CenterField Well-Known Member Past Donor

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    The very pale and cute brunette is back...
     

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