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 →
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 →
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 →
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 →
The pace of vaccine development for this virus is dizzyingly rapid – 7 or 8 times as fast as that for SARS and MERS, and 30 to 200+ times as fast as for other disease outbreaks over the last century. … Continue reading →
I want to share with you two reflective pieces about our mental (or spiritual?) state during lockdown, and one resource that sparks my hope for humanity actually rising to the challenge of this pandemic. The two essays are from The … Continue reading →
