Chinese say they have had preliminary success with a combination of an anti-malarial drug and drugs that have successfully suppressed AIDS. Gerry ....................................................................... On Fri, 13 Mar 2020 19:06:47 +0000 (UTC) Max Dillon via Mercedes <mercedes@okiebenz.com> wrote:
> Looks like some companies think they've already got a vaccine ready for > testing. > > https://www.defenseone.com/technology/2020/03/breaking-weve-got-vaccine-says-pentagon-funded-company/ > > > Max Dillon > Charleston SC > > Mar 13, 2020 12:24:51 PM archer75--- via Mercedes <mercedes@okiebenz.com>: > > > > > > > > > Philly vaccine pioneer: We can’t rush a coronavirus vaccine | Q&A > > > > > > At a White House news conference Tuesday, Anthony Fauci, the head of the > > National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Disease, told President Donald > > Trump a coronavirus vaccine would likely not be available within the next > > year or two. Trump responded: “I like the sound of a couple of months > > better.” > > > > But a vaccine is not going to be available in the next couple of months, > > and according to Dr. Paul Offit, that’s appropriate. Offit, director of the > > Vaccine Education Center at Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, is the > > co-developer of the rotavirus vaccine. It took roughly 26 years to perfect > > that protection against a disease that, according to the Centers for > > Disease Control and Prevention, was the leading cause for severe diarrhea > > in children before the vaccine’s introduction in 2006. > > > > Why is it unrealistic to expect a vaccine for coronavirus in a few months? > > > > Nobody’s ever seen this virus before. Therefore, if you’re interested in > > making a vaccine, you first had access to that virus only a couple months > > ago. That’s not long. > > > > [To make a vaccine] you first need to make a decision as to what approach > > you want to take. Then you have to do extensive animal model testing to > > make sure that the approach that you’ve taken is safe in animals, and that > > it induces an immune response which would likely be protective. Then you > > gradually do studies in people to make sure it’s safe, and then to make > > sure that it induces an immune response. That takes time, a lot of time, > > typically years. Then and only then, are you ready to put it into people to > > see whether or not it works in an outbreak situation. > > > > In 2018, after the World Health Organization declared an Ebola outbreak in > > the Democratic Republic of Congo, there was an experimental vaccine very > > quickly. > > > > I think people got fooled by Ebola. When the outbreak occurred in West > > Africa and we had a vaccine pretty much that rolled off shelf within weeks, > > people thought, Ha! That’s easy. > > > > But what they didn’t realize is people have been working on an Ebola > > vaccine for 20 years. They’ve done the animal model testing. They’ve done > > the testing to make sure that the vaccine was safe and was immunogenic. > > > > But that’s not true here. This is a new virus. So we’re starting from > > scratch. > > > > What is it about this virus that makes people confident that a vaccine will > > be available? > > > > I don’t know. You know, I’d say about 15% to 20% of the respiratory > > infections that we see in our hospital in the winter months are [types of] > > coronavirus. This is a virus that has been around for 50 years. > > > > But here are these three newer strains of coronavirus — MERS, SARS, and now > > this COVID-19. The first two viruses, SARS and MERS, have come and gone. > > > > I think this [COVID-19] virus likely will come back because it’s different. > > If you were infected with SARS or MERS viruses, you were sick. And it’s > > very easy to tell who was sick and who wasn’t. You could then quarantine > > those people — put a moat around them, if you will — so that they wouldn’t > > infect others. So those infections quickly died out. This virus is more > > like flu. It spreads in a similar manner to flu by respiratory droplet. > > It’s about as contagious as flu. It has the same set of symptoms as flu. > > And I think in the end, frankly, it’s going to have the same mortality rate > > as flu. > > > > There are certainly human studies showing that if you’re infected with a > > coronavirus — meaning one of the typical coronaviruses — you can have > > immunity to that strain for at least a year and probably longer. That’s > > encouraging. If natural infection can protect you, then it’s encouraging > > that it can produce an immune response which is protective and which you > > should be able to mimic with vaccination. > > > > Vaccine development is tightly regulated. How much of that is about safety > > vs. red tape? > > > > If you’re going to be testing this in otherwise healthy people who are > > very, very unlikely to die from this infection, you better make sure it’s > > safe. So you want those regulations in place. > > > > An example is the dengue vaccine. When it was tested in Latin America and > > Philippines, it was found to actually increase your risk of dengue shock > > syndrome. Children who were less than 9 years of age, who had never been > > exposed to the virus before, were actually more likely to be hurt by the > > vaccine than helped by it. Now, you only knew that from doing large > > clinical trials with tens of thousands of people. > > > > The history of medical breakthroughs is littered with tragedy. You want to > > make sure that things are safe. > > > > What do you think is behind the apparent willingness to skirt the rules to > > rush a vaccine? > > > > I think that because we falsely overrate, or incorrectly rate, what the > > mortality rate is, we’re willing to accept that things will be rushed > > through. In fact, coronavirus doesn’t have a high mortality rate. > > > > There’s a virus that the CDC currently estimated has killed between 20,000 > > and 45,000 people in the United States -- influenza. But only half the > > country gets that vaccine. > > > > There’s only 14 deaths [in the U.S., as of Friday afternoon] from COVID-19, > > but everybody would get a vaccine now. > > > > The point being: We’re not very good at assessing risk. > > > > https://www.inquirer.com/health/coronavirus/coronavirus-covid-19-vaccine-trump-paul-offit-20200306.html > > > > Gerry > > ........................................................................ > > > > > > _______________________________________ > > http://www.okiebenz.com > > > > To search list archives http://www.okiebenz.com/archive/ > > > > To Unsubscribe or change delivery options go to: > > http://mail.okiebenz.com/mailman/listinfo/mercedes_okiebenz.com > > > > > > > > _______________________________________ > http://www.okiebenz.com > > To search list archives http://www.okiebenz.com/archive/ > > To Unsubscribe or change delivery options go to: > http://mail.okiebenz.com/mailman/listinfo/mercedes_okiebenz.com > -- arche...@embarqmail.com <arche...@embarqmail.com> _______________________________________ http://www.okiebenz.com To search list archives http://www.okiebenz.com/archive/ To Unsubscribe or change delivery options go to: http://mail.okiebenz.com/mailman/listinfo/mercedes_okiebenz.com
