This week the Update moves from its former strictly biweekly cadence to a weekly format; each issue will encompass a larger number of brief items. There may occasionally be longer features. Fear not, the frippery is here to stay. mRNA … Continue reading →
Two items of recent pandemic news: Studies point to long-lasting, possibly lifelong immunity from natural infection; and rapid developments in the highly political question of where SARS-CoV-2 came from. Plus news briefs and a pair of fripperies. Origin, again It … Continue reading →
Herewith three items of pandemic news you may have missed recently: The latest installment in the ongoing AstraZeneca saga; how the immunosuppressed respond to mRNA vaccination; and Minnesota’s opening up of eligibility for shots. Plus news briefs and a frippery. … Continue reading →
Herewith three items of pandemic news you may have missed recently: Evidence that post-infection people could need only one shot; asymptomatics and long Covid; and AstraZeneca on pause across Europe over safety concerns. Plus news briefs and a frippery. AstraZeneca … Continue reading →
Herewith three items of pandemic news you may have missed recently: One instance in Oregon of a scary variant; quantifying the variants’ immune escape; and the new CDC guidelines. Plus news briefs and a frippery. A year Before we dive … Continue reading →
Herewith three items of pandemic news you may have missed recently: Booking a shot in Minnesota; low dead-space syringes; and Norway is investigating the deaths of elderly vaccine recipients. Plus news briefs and a frippery. Norway urges caution before vaccinating … Continue reading →
Herewith three items of pandemic news you may have missed recently: How wearable computers could predict Covid-19; the complicated situation with autoantibodies; and the late-stage trial of German company CureVac’s vaccine candidate. Plus the accustomed frippery. CureVac’s candidate enters Phase … Continue reading →
Herewith three items of pandemic news you may have missed recently: cyber attacks against vaccine developers worldwide; a comprehensive clinical trials dashboard; and the elusive allure of SARS-CoV-2 sterilizing immunity. Plus the usual frippery. The promise of sterilizing immunity We … Continue reading →
Herewith three items of pandemic news you may have missed recently: a list of 50 voices you can trust; doubts that an EUA might be issued anytime soon; and more questions on how long immunity lasts. Plus the accustomed frippery. … Continue reading →
The Update has gone semi-weekly. Herewith three more items of pandemic news you may have missed recently: the next pandemic; the duration of immunity; and two new metrics that may portend severe Covid-19. Plus a frippery. Two New Metrics That … Continue reading →
Repeat infections with Covid-19 are back in the news: a Nevada man’s case was published in The Lancet, and an elderly, immune-compromised woman in the Netherlands died after a second infection. Still, there is little cause to worry. We touched … Continue reading →
We’re going to be stringing together Covid-19 and the immune system’s response to it with genes we inherited from Neanderthals. Bear with us. First, let’s look at a paper outlining a genetic defect that results in sub-par production of one … Continue reading →
Those of us who have been hoping that life can go back to some kind of normal after a vaccine is available may need to reset our expectations. The vaccines under development will protect against disease, not against infection. What … 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 →
Mystery surrounds those who get infected by SARS-CoV-2 but never develop any symptoms. How common are they in the population? Can they infect others? For how long? Do they develop immunity? Answers are starting to emerge. Early in February, Chinese … Continue reading →
