In Italy in the plague years of the 17th century, people installed tiny windows and doors in their walls at sidewalk level. Through these openings wine, beer, and spirits could be bought and sold without fear of contagion. (One account … Continue reading →
One of SARS-CoV-2’s deepest mysteries is why it hits some people extremely hard and spares others completely. Researchers are gathering evidence on a theory that immune deficiencies based on genetics may underlie some of Covid-19’s unpredictable impact. Jean-Laurent Casanova, M.D., … Continue reading →
Yesterday two of the four farthest-along candidates for a Covid-19 vaccine announced Phase III trials for safety and efficacy. Pfizer / BioNTech and Moderna will each enroll 30,000 test subjects, ages 18–85, in the US. Pfizer / BioNTech candidate BNT162b2: … Continue reading →
Picture the widespread availability of a simple, cheap, at-home Covid test that produces quick results. Perhaps a strip of paper like a pregnancy test. Everyone in the country takes it daily. It would stop this virus in its tracks. On … Continue reading →
Today saw publications from three groups developing Covid-19 vaccines (as per the title). Short form: all raise an apparently appropriate immune response, and none causes dangerous side effects. Pfizer’s preprint outlines T-cell response, missing from their initial paper. First let’s … Continue reading →
For some of us, 2020 walks a fine line between terror and bemusement. We await — with humor if we can manage it — the unveiling of whatever fresh hell comes next. Murder hornets‽ 2020, you can’t be serious. The … Continue reading →
Moderna has finally published intreim results from their Phase I study — 8 weeks after teasing them in a press release — and the picture is generally positive. Their mRNA vaccine raised a dose-dependent immune response in all 45 subjects … Continue reading →
We still don’t know for sure whether you can catch Covid-19 twice. Four recent accounts of what might be cases of reinfection suggest that our future with the virus could be very different than what we have been hoping. Scattered … Continue reading →
Here’s a logistical difficulty that wouldn’t be the first thing to mind when we think about developing a vaccine: How do we deliver 8 or 16 billion doses of it? There are not enough glass vials in the world. If … Continue reading →
A thing I have been doing during the extended shelter-at-home: researching an ancient mystery that unfolded in Roman Britain beginning 1,600 years ago and may have profoundly influenced 20th-century English literature. There was a pagan Roman named Silvianus, living around … Continue reading →
