Been away in vaccine land, surprising that there’s so little discussion of details, pros and cons, of competing vaccines here. There’s a baby vaccine thread I will contribute to in a bit when I’m feeling more energetic.
I judge that the benefit is worth the risk for me. I don’t want to discuss pro-vaccine, anti-vaccine policy here and now. I’m in the Novavax Phase 3 trial, had my second dose of vaccine or placebo (if I’m in placebo, I’m over 65 and will switch to Pfizer/Moderna as soon as it is offered to me - consistent with current medical ethics). Have examined phase 1, phase 2 studies, and the investor press (good source!) and Novavax is a leader in terms of efficacy, safety (weak to nil sides), short-term adaptability to emerging variants with boosters or multivalent vaccine, and it requires only refrigeration.
The emergence of the South Africa variant as a possible escape mutant, and more generally the prevalence of immunocompromised persons unable to mount an innate defense to CV-19 and the consequent prospect of multiple mutants of unpredictable form into the future, is rapidly raising pressure for more rapid approval, manufacture, and distribution of vaccines. A race between wide vaccine distribution (and possibly incentives and mandates) against an explosion of escape mutants. Policy consequences range from coercive vaccination at a global scale to settling down into an annual jab like influenza.
I’m making that point in this thread because if escape mutants are a likely threat to the efficacy of mass vaccinations and quelling the pandemic, then all the more reason in order to reduce contagion and also reduce breeding of escape mutants to approve safe and cheap early outpatient treatments on an emergency basis. But...crickets. Upthread, someone mentioned Fauci’s obsession with vaccines over therapeutics, which reportedly delayed bringing AIDS under control – looks like he's doing it again.
https://www.barrons....vax-51611926231
Novavax says it has already begun developing a vaccine or a booster to target the variant. But the data is the first large trial to look at the real-world effectiveness of a first-generation Covid-19 vaccine against the South African strain.
Lab tests on the Moderna vaccine have suggested that it will be less effective against South African variant, though will still protect against it. Moderna has also begun developing a booster to target the variant. More data will come in the next few days, when Johnson & Johnson (JNJ) releases data on its Phase 3 trial of its Covid-19 vaccine, portions of which were run in South Africa. Trial data is expected on how the vaccine performs against the South African variant.
But if the Novavax results are any indication, it’s looking likely that every Covid-19 vaccine developer is going to need to have a booster to target the South African variant in the near term.
But if the Novavax results are any indication, it’s looking likely that every Covid-19 vaccine developer is going to need to have a booster to target the South African variant in the near term.
“It is now clear that our economic, societal, and medical well-being will depend on second iterations of the current crop of vaccines,” Porges wrote Friday. “Within months, the protection conferred by the current vaccines could be limited to reducing disease severity, becoming effectively useless for establishing herd immunity, as many previously infected or vaccinated people will be re-infected.”…
P.S. That quote from Porges I think in response to the finding from Novavax's 2b trial in S. Africa that infection by the classic virus did not protect against the variant.
Finally, I'm sure that many saw that Youtube just deleted Senate early-treatment and ivermectin videos.
Edited by bladedmind, 07 February 2021 - 05:47 AM.
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