Covid Vaccine Updates and General Discussion About Vaccines

[GoofGoof]

Moderna Update:
Biotech company Moderna will apply Monday for an emergency use authorization from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration after receiving more good news about the safety and effectiveness of its candidate COVID-19 vaccine. Moderna's latest findings, according to a company press release, showed that of 196 people in the clinical trial who caught COVID-19, 185 of them had received the placebo, while only 11 received the active vaccine. That works out to an effectiveness rate above 94%. Of the 30 participants who suffered severe disease, all were in the placebo group, suggesting that the vaccine prevents both mild and serious disease. One placebo recipient died.

The Cambridge, Massachusetts-based company, said it anticipates the FDA's advisory committee will discuss mRNA-1273 on Dec. 17, a week after it meets to discuss Pfizer's vaccine, with authorization expected to come a few days after each meeting.

Moderna becomes second company to request emergency FDA authorization for COVID-19 vaccine candidate

Moderna will be the second coronavirus vaccine maker to request authorization from the government after similarly positive trial results for Pfizer.

news.yahoo.com

 

[danlb_2000]

Interesting article on the Moderna vaccine. Once they got the genome of the virus it took them only two days to design the RNA instruction that would make cells produce the coronavirus spike protein. If these mRNA vaccines continue to be safe and effective, then this is not only going to be a huge breakthrough in the fight against COVID, but may also be help with the first against other existing and future diseases.

Technology

The latest news, videos, and discussion topics on Technology - Entrepreneur

www.entrepreneur.com

 

[GoofGoof]

Interesting article on the Moderna vaccine. Once they got the genome of the virus it took them only two days to design the RNA instruction that would make cells produce the coronavirus spike protein. If these mRNA vaccines continue to be safe and effective, then this is not only going to be a huge breakthrough in the fight against COVID, but may also be help with the first against other existing and future diseases.

Technology

The latest news, videos, and discussion topics on Technology - Entrepreneur

www.entrepreneur.com

It‘s a pretty incredible series of events. The mRNA research started 30+ years ago, but this virus presented the perfect opportunity to showcase it. Being able to design the vaccine in 2 days is a game changer for vaccine development. I said this before, but assuming these vaccines work out and get us out of this pandemic we are witnessing what could potentially go down as one of the greatest scientific achievements of all time. Our kids and grandkids one day will likely learn about this in school. Hopefully it also inspires the next generation of scientists. Goof stuff

 

[GoofGoof]

CDC group that decides who gets the vaccine first is meeting today (virtually) to discuss and vote on who is in group 1a. It’s expected that healthcare workers and long term care patients are in that group. The committee won’t vote on who gets a specific vaccine until one gets approved so today’s meeting is to determine the pecking order. Once the FDA approves a specific vaccine for EUA this CDC group has to also vote to approve it and detail out who will be first to get it. The meeting today is an tempt to hash out an overall game plan to share with the states as they develop their plans. The roll-out will not vaccinate all healthcare workers immediately. There are an estimated 20 million healthcare workers plus 3 million residents in LT care facilities and the first batch of vaccine being delivered is only about 6 million doses. It’s expected to take 3 to 4 weeks to get all those people done and then they have to start the 2nd doses for them.

CDC calls emergency meeting to decide who gets Covid vaccine first

It comes as Moderna announced it was applying for emergency use authorization from the FDA

news.yahoo.com

 

[GoofGoof]

The vote is in:
A panel of advisers to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) on Tuesday voted 13-to-1 to recommend that healthcare workers and residents of long-term care facilities should be first in line to receive initial doses of COVID-19 vaccines when they become available. Not shocking news. The estimate is there are roughly 21M healthcare workers and 3M residents of long term care facilities. The manufacturers expect to have 40M doses out in the US by year end so enough for almost the entire first wave to get both shots. After that they expect production to ramp up further. The 1 no vote came from a doctor who felt nursing home patients shouldn‘t be in the first round since the trials didn’t specifically test that population. She felt the risk was too great. The other 13 members disagreed. The fact that 40% of Covid deaths come from nursing homes alone is thought to be the primary reason to include the patients. In theory we should be able to reduce Covid deaths by almost 40% by a few weeks into 2021 if most workers and patients get the vaccine. Pretty exciting news

No word on when the rest of us get to go yet.

Scarce early vaccine supply should go to health workers, nursing homes: U.S. health advisers

A panel of advisers to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) on Tuesday voted 13-to-1 to recommend that healthcare workers and residents of long-term care facilities should be first in line to receive initial doses of COVID-19 vaccines when they become available. The vote...

news.yahoo.com

 

[danlb_2000]

The vote is in:
A panel of advisers to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) on Tuesday voted 13-to-1 to recommend that healthcare workers and residents of long-term care facilities should be first in line to receive initial doses of COVID-19 vaccines when they become available. Not shocking news. The estimate is there are roughly 21M healthcare workers and 3M residents of long term care facilities. The manufacturers expect to have 40M doses out in the US by year end so enough for almost the entire first wave to get both shots. After that they expect production to ramp up further. The 1 no vote came from a doctor who felt nursing home patients shouldn‘t be in the first round since the trials didn’t specifically test that population. She felt the risk was too great. The other 13 members disagreed. The fact that 40% of Covid deaths come from nursing homes alone is thought to be the primary reason to include the patients. In theory we should be able to reduce Covid deaths by almost 40% by a few weeks into 2021 if most workers and patients get the vaccine. Pretty exciting news

No word on when the rest of us get to go yet.

Scarce early vaccine supply should go to health workers, nursing homes: U.S. health advisers

A panel of advisers to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) on Tuesday voted 13-to-1 to recommend that healthcare workers and residents of long-term care facilities should be first in line to receive initial doses of COVID-19 vaccines when they become available. The vote...

news.yahoo.com

Vaccinating the people in long-term care also makes sense because not only are you saving lives there, you are also keeping a lot people out of the hospital thus taking pressure of the healthcare system.

 

[GoofGoof]

Vaccinating the people in long-term care also makes sense because not only are you saving lives there, you are also keeping a lot people out of the hospital thus taking pressure of the healthcare system.

True, and they are also putting workers in those facilities in the first group too so they may be one of the safest places to be in about 6 weeks. A great turn of events. I hope that also opens the door for some additional visitors to those places. It’s been heart breaking to see stories of people who are stuck there and can’t easily visit with family. They will still need lots of precautions because not everyone can get the vaccine and not all of them will be effective. The older you get the less your immune system works.

 

[danlb_2000]

True, and they are also putting workers in those facilities in the first group too so they may be one of the safest places to be in about 6 weeks. A great turn of events. I hope that also opens the door for some additional visitors to those places. It’s been heart breaking to see stories of people who are stuck there and can’t easily visit with family. They will still need lots of precautions because not everyone can get the vaccine and not all of them will be effective. The older you get the less your immune system works.

Yeah, my mother-in-law is in a facility and my wife has only gotten to see her a couple times outdoors during the summer. They have since locked that down again.

 

[GoofGoof]

Yeah, my mother-in-law is in a facility and my wife has only gotten to see her a couple times outdoors during the summer. They have since locked that down again.

It probably won’t be in time for the holidays but hopefully not long after New Years that she will be able to see her again and more frequently

 

[correcaminos]

Yeah, my mother-in-law is in a facility and my wife has only gotten to see her a couple times outdoors during the summer. They have since locked that down again.

I hear you. I have not seen my aunt (disabled from birth, no kids, no spouse ever, so we're kinda her surrogate kids) for almost a year. Since she has breathing issues, any hint of a cold I stay away. Kept us out starting Christmas until lock down as we passed it through the family. I've seen her on video 3x since. Not been fun... even had a call one night saying we need to pray as covid ran through her facility and her breathing was horrible. She rallied and my dad has been able to see her but only him.

 

[GoofGoof]

The UK is first country to approve Covid vaccine. They formally approved the Pfizer vaccine and will begin vaccinations next week when their first 800,000 doses arrive from the facility in Belgium where they are being manufactured. The UK government bought 40M doses from Pfizer (enough for 1/3 of the population using 2 doses each). The Moderna vaccine approval is expected shortly as well.

UK approves Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine: Who gets it first?

Britain on Wednesday became the first country in the world to approve the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine for use and said that it will be rolled out from early next week. The head of the medicines regulator, June Raine, said no corners had been cut. The Medicines and Healthcare products...

news.yahoo.com

 

[Smooth]

US government and Pfizer reach $1.95 billion deal to produce millions of Covid-19 vaccine doses | CNN

The US Department of Health and Human Services and Department of Defense announced on Wednesday a $1.95 billion agreement with Pfizer to produce 100 million doses of a Covid-19 vaccine in the United States. The deal also allows the US government to acquire an additional 500 million doses.

www.cnn.com

 

[MisterPenguin]

US government and Pfizer reach $1.95 billion deal to produce millions of Covid-19 vaccine doses | CNN

The US Department of Health and Human Services and Department of Defense announced on Wednesday a $1.95 billion agreement with Pfizer to produce 100 million doses of a Covid-19 vaccine in the United States. The deal also allows the US government to acquire an additional 500 million doses.

www.cnn.com

Why are you posting an article from July?

 

[Smooth]

Sorry. I did not know there was a deadline on article posts. But the articles does show that Pfizer is receiving funds from the US. I will remove this post if needed. Just let me know.

 

[GoofGoof]

Sorry. I did not know there was a deadline on article posts. But the articles does show that Pfizer is receiving funds from the US. I will remove this post if needed. Just let me know.

Pfizer will receive funds from the US government if their vaccine is approved but only once it is delivered. They have opted out of the distribution setup under warp speed using McKesson. They also did not take upfront money from the US government under warp speed for vaccine development. BioNTech, Pfizer’s partner did take upfront funding from the EU for development of the vaccine. Of the vaccine had failed Pfizer would be out billions so they took the biggest risk. In addition to the US, the UK, EU, Japan, Canada and several other countries also entered into agreements to buy doses of the vaccine in advance if approved. Overall, more doses were sold outside of the US than to the US government. Those are all the facts around the vaccine.

The political spin is irrelevant to me. The governments of the top economies in the world have united together in an unprecedented way to fund vaccine research and to get the world out of this mess. It’s a great accomplishment but shared by many nations. It’s American political spin to give credit only to the American government. Warp speed was a very good program, but hardly unique. Every major economic power had a similar initiative and IMHO while they all deserve some credit, it was a no brainer given the potential economic damages mounting each day we don’t have a vaccine. What would be truly sad would be to see American’s turn the vaccine into the mask debate and politicize it. I don‘t want to see something that’s a clear no brainer get rejected by a large number of people because some talking heads in an echo chamber tell them to reject it over who gets political credit for it.

 

[MisterPenguin]

Sorry. I did not know there was a deadline on article posts. But the articles does show that Pfizer is receiving funds from the US. I will remove this post if needed. Just let me know.

It's just that it's common knowledge and has been posted about quite often. A link to an article without any sort of introduction "this is from this past Summer...", e.g., is usually a link to fresh information.

 

[nickys]

The FDA reviews a company's raw data which takes more time than what the UK is doing, which is trusting the company. That's why there's going to be an extra 9 days for the U.S.

As far a political machinations go, a nine day delay is a pretty poor job on the part of whoever you think is politically motivated. You should be happy that they're so incompetent that they can't delay it for months for whatever reason you think might exist...

...all without one shred of proof. So stop spouting fact-free nonsense here.

People complain that they're not going to trust a rushed vaccine and here you are advocating for a rushed vaccine.

What you posted is utter ridiculousness.

I have to refute this. The MHRA, our medicine regulator, has been analysing the raw data on this, and other vaccines, from the very start. They were getting that information from the drug companies from the earliest trials in early summer.

The process has been ongoing during the whole vaccine development timeline, for Pfizer, Moderna and Astra Zenica.

Whilst I agree that the person you were responding to was also factually incorrect, so are you.

 

[MisterPenguin]

I have to refute this. The MHRA, our medicine regulator, has been analysing the raw data on this, and other vaccines, from the very start. They were getting that information from the drug companies from the earliest trials in early summer.

The process has been ongoing during the whole vaccine development timeline, for Pfizer, Moderna and Astra Zenica.

Whilst I agree that the person you were responding to was also factually incorrect, so are you.

Where did I say that weren't looking at raw data previously?

The FDA right now is looking at raw data, *in it's completed form,* and that's where the process is, and why it takes time to give approval. Are you saying they were getting daily updates such that they've completed their look at *all* the raw data?

If the raw data has already been looked over, then, I ask you, what's happening right now such that the FDA can't give it its approval today?

Nothing I said was incorrect.

 

[nickys]

Where did I say that weren't looking at raw data previously?

The FDA right now is looking at raw data, *in it's completed form,* and that's where the process is, and why it takes time to give approval. Are you saying they were getting daily updates such that they've completed their look at *all* the raw data?

If the raw data has already been looked over, then, I ask you, what's happening right now such that the FDA can't give it its approval today?

Nothing I said was incorrect.

I don’t know, or even care much, what the FDA are doing. It doesn’t impact me. I was talking about the MHRA which is the U.K. agency that does much the same thing I guess at the FDA.

What you said was:

1. The FDA reviews a company's raw data which takes more time than what the UK is doing, which is trusting the company.

Incorrect, the MHRA has been doing that since the start with the early raw data, and yes they have been getting the data. As have other EU countries that were contributors to the vaccine development.

2. People complain that they're not going to trust a rushed vaccine and here you are advocating for a rushed vaccine.

Implying that the U.K. is rushing approval, when it just means that the U.K., along with other EU countries, have perhaps had a head start when it comes to analysing the data, since they provided financial backing.

 

[correcaminos]

US government and Pfizer reach $1.95 billion deal to produce millions of Covid-19 vaccine doses | CNN

The US Department of Health and Human Services and Department of Defense announced on Wednesday a $1.95 billion agreement with Pfizer to produce 100 million doses of a Covid-19 vaccine in the United States. The deal also allows the US government to acquire an additional 500 million doses.

www.cnn.com

As already stated this has to do with buying the doses, not funding the vaccine the way they did with others. There is absolutely no political bias on at least one vaccine.