For anyone who doesn't recognize the author, David Wallace-Wells is the author of The Uninhabitable Earth. He's one of the science journalists I trust most, especially when...
For anyone who doesn't recognize the author, David Wallace-Wells is the author of The Uninhabitable Earth. He's one of the science journalists I trust most, especially when uncomfortable-but-necessary truths are on the line.
Functionally, it’s a drop in the bucket, though Krammer predicts our attention, and the funding, will move on once this pandemic is behind us, leaving us no more prepared for the next one. When he compares the cost of such a project to the Pentagon’s F-35 — you could build vaccines for five potential pandemics for the cost of a single plane, and vaccines for all of them for roughly the cost of that fighter-jet program as a whole — he isn’t signaling confidence it will happen, but the opposite.
There is definitely a narrow window of opportunity approaching. As the vaccine(s) are distributed and society starts shifting back to whatever our new normal is, people are (understandably) going...
There is definitely a narrow window of opportunity approaching. As the vaccine(s) are distributed and society starts shifting back to whatever our new normal is, people are (understandably) going to want to move on from this shitty shitty year. After a certain amount of time, the memories will begin to fade and so with it the urgency of trying to prevent this from ever happening again. Before that happens, but while the vaccines are still rolling out, there's a time to leverage the public good will and allocate the money for this to happen. It could be the most popular bi-partisan action every undertaken if congress can set their egos aside and actually cooperate (so yea..... that'll never happen).
I have my doubts that a few interviews would have made a difference. People talk about the possibility of disasters they’ve never experienced, but this doesn’t seem to translate into the political...
I have my doubts that a few interviews would have made a difference. People talk about the possibility of disasters they’ve never experienced, but this doesn’t seem to translate into the political will to do anything about it. With the major exception of war.
Even experience may not do it. After a fire or flood, often people will want to rebuild in the same place.
There is a massive difference between having a thing and knowing that you have it. In the case of Modena's vaccine candidate, yes, development was stunningly fast, literally a matter of days...
There is a massive difference between having a thing and knowing that you have it.
In the case of Modena's vaccine candidate, yes, development was stunningly fast, literally a matter of days following sequencing the SARS-CoV-2 genome. This is a process which can take years or decaades, or never --- there are no vaccines for HIV, hepatitis C, or herpes, for example. But this still left critical questions unanswered:
Is it safe? "First, do no harm."
Is it effective? Does it actually stop the disease?
How long does immunity last?
Can production be scaled up? With two-dose delivery, we will need approximately 15 billion innoculations prepared and distributed worldwide.
What storage and handdling requirements are there?
How does the therapy compare against alternatives in efficacy, safety, handling, ptroduction, administration, and cost?
That information, and actual certification, production, distribution, administration, and followup, take time.
The fact that mRNA vaccine development is so rapid bodes well for the next outbreak. And there will be one.
Look too for a future Nobel in medicine for the developers.
I think the later part of this article is more interesting, where it talks about the proposals for preparing ahead of time for making a vaccine in case of a pandemic. For example, stage one trials...
I think the later part of this article is more interesting, where it talks about the proposals for preparing ahead of time for making a vaccine in case of a pandemic. For example, stage one trials can be done in advance for the most likely threats, resulting in a head start.
It seems that this pandemic wasn't caused by difficult virus, like HIV. It was very similar to the SARS virus.
For anyone who doesn't recognize the author, David Wallace-Wells is the author of The Uninhabitable Earth. He's one of the science journalists I trust most, especially when uncomfortable-but-necessary truths are on the line.
"Everything we do before a pandemic will seem alarmist. Everything we do after will seem inadequate."
I fear that everything we do after covid-19, to prepare for the next pandemic, will also be dismissed as alarmist.
There is definitely a narrow window of opportunity approaching. As the vaccine(s) are distributed and society starts shifting back to whatever our new normal is, people are (understandably) going to want to move on from this shitty shitty year. After a certain amount of time, the memories will begin to fade and so with it the urgency of trying to prevent this from ever happening again. Before that happens, but while the vaccines are still rolling out, there's a time to leverage the public good will and allocate the money for this to happen. It could be the most popular bi-partisan action every undertaken if congress can set their egos aside and actually cooperate (so yea..... that'll never happen).
I have my doubts that a few interviews would have made a difference. People talk about the possibility of disasters they’ve never experienced, but this doesn’t seem to translate into the political will to do anything about it. With the major exception of war.
Even experience may not do it. After a fire or flood, often people will want to rebuild in the same place.
There is a massive difference between having a thing and knowing that you have it.
In the case of Modena's vaccine candidate, yes, development was stunningly fast, literally a matter of days following sequencing the SARS-CoV-2 genome. This is a process which can take years or decaades, or never --- there are no vaccines for HIV, hepatitis C, or herpes, for example. But this still left critical questions unanswered:
That information, and actual certification, production, distribution, administration, and followup, take time.
The fact that mRNA vaccine development is so rapid bodes well for the next outbreak. And there will be one.
Look too for a future Nobel in medicine for the developers.
I think the later part of this article is more interesting, where it talks about the proposals for preparing ahead of time for making a vaccine in case of a pandemic. For example, stage one trials can be done in advance for the most likely threats, resulting in a head start.
It seems that this pandemic wasn't caused by difficult virus, like HIV. It was very similar to the SARS virus.
RNA vaccines have been around since the late 90s so a Nobel Prize is long overdue.