Promising New Coronavirus Vaccine

[Bart_van_der_Wolf]

While actual scientists continue to research the origins of COVID-19—which may continue for years—it's certainly been interesting to watch the current uncertainty weaponized into accusations against scientists by those with an axe to grind. Here's an interesting article...

https://massivesci.com/articles/sars-cov-coronavirus-covid19-lab-leak-hypothesis
[...]

Interesting site, thanks. They have some interesting articles on the subject at hand.

[Alan Klein]

While actual scientists continue to research the origins of COVID-19—which may continue for years—it's certainly been interesting to watch the current uncertainty weaponized into accusations against scientists by those with an axe to grind. Here's an interesting article...

https://massivesci.com/articles/sars-cov-coronavirus-covid19-lab-leak-hypothesis

If the question is “are both hypotheses possible?” the answer is yes. Both are possible. If the question  is “are they equally likely?” the answer is absolutely not. One hypothesis requires a colossal cover-up and the silent, unswerving, leak-proof compliance of a vast network of scientists, civilians, and government officials for over a year. The other requires only for biology to behave as it always has, for a family of viruses that have done this before to do it again. The zoonotic spillover hypothesis is simple and explains everything. It’s scientific malpractice to pretend that one idea is equally as meritorious as the other. The lab-leak hypothesis is a scientific deus ex machina, a narrative shortcut that points a finger at a specific set of bad actors. I would be embarrassed to stand up in front of a room of scientists, lay out both hypotheses, and then pretend that one isn’t clearly, obviously better than the other.

Besides the hazy science, there is an undeniable political aspect to this argument. When violence against Asian people in the US is spiking, it’s naive at best and violent gaslighting at worst to pretend that supporting an evidence-free hypothesis that clearly adds fuel to the idea that China inflicted COVID-19 upon the world, that they did this to us, is noble scientific dispassion. There’s a choice being made here between two ideas — one that falls neatly within the world of biology, and the other that knots together conspiracy theory, political intrigue, and xenophobia.

* Deus ex machina - a plot device whereby a seemingly unsolvable problem in a story is suddenly and abruptly resolved by an unexpected and unlikely occurrence. Its function is generally to resolve an otherwise irresolvable plot situation, to surprise the audience, to bring the tale to a happy ending, or act as a comedic device.

It came from a Chinese lab.  You're being an apologist for China.  Don't be naive.

[William Walker]

Outstanding find! Thanks for sharing it! I only hope everyone watches it as it is very revealing.

+1!!

[LesPalenik]

Unraveling China's "sinister plan" to "unleash coronavirus"
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T-A_OPWa5VI

Interesting report which, however, looses all credibility when Chinese accuse West from the manufacturing and weaponising of the SARS virus and importing it to China.
Same BS as when Russians initially said that the MH17 airplane was shot down by Ukraine or when Iran said that the Ukrainian Boeing 737 was shot down by Israelis.

[Robert Roaldi]

Interesting report which, however, looses all credibility when Chinese accuse West from the manufacturing and weaponising of the SARS virus and importing it to China.
Same BS as when Russians initially said that the MH17 airplane was shot down by Ukraine or when Iran said that the Ukrainian Boeing 737 was shot down by Israelis.

Why does reporting on that allegation cause the report to lose credibility? He didn't assert that it was true or that he agreed with it.

[James Clark]

It came from a Chinese lab.  You're being an apologist for China.  Don't be naive.

QED!!!

[Alan Klein]

Why does reporting on that allegation cause the report to lose credibility? He didn't assert that it was true or that he agreed with it.

When so many here blamed America and especially Trump for the disease and deaths in America, the victims, it seems politically motivated when people support arguments that the Chinese have clean hands.   

[LesPalenik]

Why does reporting on that allegation cause the report to lose credibility? He didn't assert that it was true or that he agreed with it.

While on the subject of Chinese credibility, how come that they stopped reporting any deaths for the worldometers.info covid stats? Did they completely erase covid in China or are they just supressing that data? 

[Robert Roaldi]

When so many here blamed America and especially Trump for the disease and deaths in America, the victims, it seems politically motivated when people support arguments that the Chinese have clean hands.

Do you continue to think that the US did a good job managing the pandemic?

[Alan Klein]

Do you continue to think that the US did a good job managing the pandemic?

We did a great job with the vaccines.  We did a good job with treatment and support of ill patients.  We didn't do well with the infection rates but I'm not sure how  we could have done better short of locking people up like they did in China.  We also did a terrible job with old age homes and protecting people there.   Of course, it's a lot easier Monday morning quarterbacking.

[Alan Klein]

While on the subject of Chinese credibility, how come that they stopped reporting any deaths for the worldometer.com covid stats? Did they completely erase covid in China or are they just supressing that data? 

I wouldn't believe their stats anyway.  Why would anyone believe anything they say?

[TechTalk]

While actual scientists continue to research the origins of COVID-19—which may continue for years—it's certainly been interesting to watch the current uncertainty weaponized into accusations against scientists by those with an axe to grind.

It's also interesting to watch the current uncertainty weaponized into accusations against others posting here by those with an axe to grind.

[Alan Klein]

It's also interesting to watch the current uncertainty weaponized into accusations against others posting here by those with an axe to grind.

You seen to forget that people here blamed Trump for the damage caused by the virus and even calling him xenophobic and racist for stopping Chinese travelers from entering the USA. 

[TechTalk]

The background story of how and why vaccines like the Nucleoside-modified messenger RNA vaccines from BioNTech and Moderna were able to be developed and produced so quickly, just when we needed them, is interesting. I've been studying the history for awhile and find it fascinating. The speed with which they were able to be delivered to us was not a miracle created in 2020. The speed of vaccine development was due to a foundation of accumulated knowledge and occasional breakthroughs over many years in the lead-up to renewed and intensified interest in mRNA research which has accelerated over the past decade.

The speed of vaccine production was due to the foresight of Congress and President Bush in creating the Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority at the end of 2006. BARDA was established under the Pandemic and All-Hazards Preparedness Act of 2006 thru bipartisan efforts. When COVID-19 arrived, there was no need to develop from scratch an infrastructure across multiple government agencies to coordinate, streamline, and accelerate the evaluation, funding, development, approval, and production of vaccines . That infrastructure already existed in BARDA and The Public Health Emergency Medical Countermeasures Enterprise (PHEMCE) and they performed extremely well. BARDA provides biomedical manufacturers with a single point of entry into multiple federal government agencies and facilitates the process from proposal, to evaluation, to funding, to authorization, to production and procurement, and provides any needed infrastructure support along the way. BARDA is the agency that has managed the portfolio and provided billions of dollars in funding and assistance to a multitude of manufacturers including vaccines.

Of course, the scientists are the first in line for my gratitude. The institutions and the government officials who created or led them, years prior to the pandemic, enabling vaccine science to advance to its current state are next in line. At the top of that list would be NIAID led by Anthony Fauci, M.D who was instrumental in the establishment and funding of the NIAID Vaccine Research Center and its Viral Pathogenesis Laboratory led by Barney Graham, M.D., Ph.D.. Dr. Barney Graham and his research team headed by Kizzmekia Corbett, PhD along with Jason McLellan, PhD from the University of Texas at Austin engineered the stabilized version of the SARS-CoV-2 spike protein which lies at the heart of the immune response generated by the COVID-19 vaccines from Moderna, Pfizer/BioNTech, J&J/Janssen, and Novavax.

Among the scientists making crucial breakthroughs in mRNA vaccine development are Katalin Karikó, PhD and Drew Weissman, MD, PhD at the University of Pennsylvania with research grants from NIAID. Prior to their discoveries published in 2005, mRNA development had stalled as using mRNA was neither safe or effective as a tool for combating human disease. Injecting mRNA created an unwanted inflammatory immunogenic response which was sometimes fatal in experiments with lab animals and which also destroyed the delicate mRNA before it could reach the intended cells. They discovered that by modifying certain nucleosides in mRNA, and creating a method for doing so, effectiveness increased dramatically and regulated the unwanted inflammatory immunogenic response. These modification discoveries and methods are critical in the current mRNA vaccines being used, allowing them to be both safe and effective.

To Be Continued...

* Click on the links provided in the text above if you would like more information on any of the items highlighted.

[Robert Roaldi]

The background story of how and why vaccines like the Nucleoside-modified messenger RNA vaccines from BioNTech and Moderna were able to be developed and produced so quickly,
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To Be Continued...

* Click on the links provided in the text above if you would like more information on any of the items highlighted.

Thanks very much.

[JoeKitchen]

Unfortunately, in an effort to make Trump look bad and blame him for the death and sickness because it was an election year particularly, Democrat's and the anti-Trump press ignored the real culprit - China.  Because of that, there's a huge incentive to bury the truth going forward rather than embarrassing all those who blamed the victims of the pandemic rather than the cause of it. So after Biden's 90 day investigation is done, they'll come up with no conclusive evidence.  After all China buried all that months ago.  Then everyone can forget what really happened and move on to the 2022 elections and blame Trump again.

Exactly, which is why he moved the investigation from the State Department to intelligence, which classifies anything by default. 

[Chris Kern]

This thread has experienced ... ahem ... a few twists and turns since I started it, as has the vaccine whose initial clinical trials inspired my first post, but Novavax announced in a press release today that it finally is ready to apply for regulatory approval from the U.S. government to begin dispensing its vaccine.

In the placebo-controlled, observer-blinded study randomized 2:1, NVX-CoV2373 demonstrated overall efficacy of 90.4% (95% CI: 82.9, 94.6), achieving its primary endpoint. Seventy-seven cases were observed: 63 in the placebo group and 14 in the vaccine group. All cases observed in the vaccine group were mild as defined by the trial protocol. Ten moderate cases and four severe cases were observed, all in the placebo group, yielding a vaccine efficacy of 100% (95% CI: 87.0, 100) against moderate or severe disease.

Efficacy endpoints were accrued from January 25 through April 30, 2021 — a time when the Alpha (B.1.1.7) variant, first identified in the U.K., became the predominant strain in the U.S. Other strains, including Variants of Interest (VoI) and Variants of Concern (VoC), were also on the rise during the [third-phase clinical trial] endpoint accrual window.

With vaccine supplies now more than adequate in the United States, the Novavax recombinant protein product, which uses a manufacturing technique that can be scaled up massively, should make an important contribution to fulfilling the global effort to control the SARS-CoV-2 virus.  The small U.S. company has already licensed manufacturers in the United Kingdom, Japan, and the Czech Republic to produce doses.

[Robert Roaldi]

A one-hour podcast of a TED interview about the remarkable year we just experienced in vaccine development, https://www.listennotes.com/et/podcasts/the-ted-interview/how-covid-vaccines-are-CoRLQAad_uB/. Highly recommended listening as it touches on many of the topics that were discussed on these pages.

Adrian Hill is an Oxford researcher and one of the guys behind the AstraZeneca Covid vaccine. Fascinating interview about the different kinds of vaccines and what they can do. De-mystifies some of the stats we hear and makes you suspicious of what the media reports. One good bit is how vaccines might be used in diseases that have nothing to do with pathogens, like Alzheimers, where a vaccine could trigger an immune response to combat the pathology despite the fact that the pathology was not created by a pathogen. One very good news bit is that the stats that say that a vaccine may be only 95% effective is misleading, when all the current vaccines are close to 100% effective in eliminating serious illness and death, even if they don’t eliminate all Covid symptoms in people who contract it. That fact has ramifications for vaccines that may only be, say, 50% effective in other diseases. Even if they don’t eliminate all infections, if they reduce/eliminate serious illness and death, well, that’s kind of ok. There are plenty of nuances in the data that are badly described in the popular press and he illustrates a few.

One illuminating remark he makes is that it has been vaccines that have created herd immunity in many diseases and that the idea that we obtain herd immunity by letting the virus rip through the population is nonsense.

This talk is available on many podcast platforms. It’s a little over an hour long. Nice to listen to a scientist speak intelligently about things.

[TechTalk]

Thanks! Well worth the hour spent listening. Packs a lot of useful education into an hour without being overwhelming or hard to digest.

[Robert Roaldi]

This article doesn't really belong on this thread, but since it's about Covid, it's more appropriate here than on the "political" thread. It's from the Washington Post and is about ICU nurses in Appalachia, https://www.washingtonpost.com/dc-md-va/2021/07/06/appalachian-covid-deniers-nurses-virginia/. It's a bit long but fascinating.