COVID-19 vaccine development pipeline gears up

[gracielle]

How Exactly Do You Catch Covid-19? There Is a Growing Consensus

Surface contamination and fleeting encounters are less of a worry than close-up, person-to-person interactions for extended periods. The emerging scientific findings are helping businesses and governments devise reopening strategies that limit the coronavirus’s spread.

www.wsj.com

 

[gracielle]

Is a Covid-19 Vaccine Actually Possible?

Experts are optimistic, but new vaccine ‘platforms’ are relatively untested

elemental.medium.com

18 June 2020
....Others agree. “If we have to go back to a traditional vaccine, I think we go back to that original statement by Anthony Fauci and a number of others, which is that a vaccine is 12 to 18 months away,” says Case Western Reserve’s Cameron. “So instead of early 2021, we’re talking fall of 2021.”....

 

[jantango]

 

[gracielle]

Coronavirus en la Argentina: firmaron el convenio que habilita la prueba de la vacuna contra el COVID-19 en el Hospital Militar Central

El director del centro médico, coronel Sergio Maldonado, y el doctor Fernando Polack sellaron el acuerdo esta tarde

www.infobae.com

1 August 2020
Coronavirus in Argentina: signed the agreement that enables the testing of the vaccine against COVID-19 at the Central Military Hospital....The director of the medical center, Colonel Sergio Maldonado, and Dr. Fernando Polack sealed the agreement this afternoon....According to the authorities, all the participants in these tests, both military and civilian, volunteered . Therefore, and in compliance with good clinical practices in the implementation of medical research, your data will be preserved in order to avoid any possibility of affecting the decisions made by the free will of the interested parties....“Starting today, we start working together. The Argentine Army, with the Military Hospital, will provide logistical support, cooperation so that researchers can develop this important test for the coronavirus vaccine .

Coronavirus en la Argentina: firmaron el convenio que habilita la prueba de la vacuna contra el COVID-19 en el Hospital Militar Central

El director del centro médico, coronel Sergio Maldonado, y el doctor Fernando Polack sellaron el acuerdo esta tarde

translate.google.com

A24 news reported this morning that so far 15,000 volunteers have signed up.

 

[gracielle]

Rusia enviará a la Argentina dosis de Avifavir, su fármaco para el coronavirus | Lo anunció el Fondo de Inversión Directa de Rusia (RDIF)

Rusia proveerá Argentina de uno de los fármacos que utiliza en ese país para tratar a pacientes con covid-19. Se llama Avifavir y lo recibirán otros 6 países de la región: Bolivia, Ecuador, Uruguay, Paraguay, Honduras y El Salvador. Así lo anució este ...

www.pagina12.com.ar

3 August 2020
Announced by the Russian Direct Investment Fund (RDIF)...Russia will send Argentina doses of Avifavir. It is the drug that Russia uses
there to treat patients with covid-19. It will be received by 6 other countries in the region: Bolivia, Ecuador, Uruguay, Paraguay, Honduras
and El Salvador....

Rusia enviará a la Argentina dosis de Avifavir, su fármaco para el coronavirus | Lo anunció el Fondo de Inversión Directa de Rusia (RDIF)

Rusia proveerá Argentina de uno de los fármacos que utiliza en ese país para tratar a pacientes con covid-19. Se llama Avifavir y lo recibirán otros 6 países de la región: Bolivia, Ecuador, Uruguay, Paraguay, Honduras y El Salvador. Así lo anució este ...

translate.google.com

 

[Renzi]

This is an interesting read, even for non-Catholics: Who goes first? The ethics of distributing a Covid-19 vaccine.

The Catholic Health Association’s guidelines for “vaccine equity”

The C.H.A. listed the following guidelines for distributing a Covid-19 vaccine:

1. Vaccines should be demonstrably safe and ethically tested. Also, the burden of testing should not fall primarily on the poor, or those in developing countries.

2. Vaccines should be demonstrated to be scientifically effective. They should not be adopted too quickly for political or economic reasons.

 

[gracielle]

Novavax has announced encouraging early results for its experimental coronavirus vaccine

All of the 131 volunteers who received the vaccine produced a high level of antibodies against covid-19.

www.technologyreview.com

 

[sergio]

I believe this UNDERSTATES the serious adverse effects of the 1976 flu vaccine used in the US for what some call "political reasons" (Gerald Ford was trying to get elected President after having assumed the Presidency when Nixon was forced to resign). Hundreds of cases of paralysis were reported after taking the vaccine. The world is desperate for a panacea to the Covid crisis. Is a vaccine being rushed? Will there be enough time to properly assess its safety? Will the public be informed of adverse reactions? The Public Health Legacy of the 1976 Swine Flu Outbreak | Discover Magazine

 

[sergio]

This is an interesting read, even for non-Catholics: Who goes first? The ethics of distributing a Covid-19 vaccine.

The Catholic Health Association’s guidelines for “vaccine equity”

The C.H.A. listed the following guidelines for distributing a Covid-19 vaccine:

1. Vaccines should be demonstrably safe and ethically tested. Also, the burden of testing should not fall primarily on the poor, or those in developing countries.

2. Vaccines should be demonstrated to be scientifically effective. They should not be adopted too quickly for political or economic reasons.

These are appropriate, ethical principles however the quote below is a false analogy as it implies that anyone who resists a vaccination is akin to those who refuse to wear face masks in crowded public places. If a vaccine is developed and distributed too quickly, those who resist vaccination are NOT being irresponsible. If there is reasonable doubt that a vaccine is safe, it could be argued that they are being RESPONSIBLE by not subjecting themselves or others to potential risks such as paralysis (see the 1976 flu vaccine in the US). Who will determine that a vaccine has been carefully tested and that enough time has elapsed to observe serious side effects? Who will disseminate the facts accurately? Can the WHO be fully trusted? Have they been politicized? Do they have links to the pharmaceutical industry? When it comes to one's own health or the health of loved ones, no sane person can be willing to submit to risk because it is the politically correct thing to do. In 1976 many people followed US government health guidelines and got vaccinated. Some ended up paralyzed. I have no way of knowing whether or not the vaccines being worked on will be safe or not safe, but I am raising questions about the tremendous speed at which the development is moving and the limited time to carefully test and observe results.

"Of course, particularly in the United States, there will be those who will not want to be vaccinated, just as there are those who refuse to wear face coverings in public and argue for “the right to be left alone.” But we should remember that public health cannot be solely concerned with the rights of the individual. You need not be sick to be a spreader of Covid to others, and we do not know how long one can spread the disease".

 

[gracielle]

Los detalles del ensayo clínico de la vacuna contra COVID-19 que lidera el científico Fernando Polack en el Hospital Militar

En diálogo con Infobae, el coronel del Ejército Argentino Sergio Maldonado, director del nosocomio encargado de llevar adelante las pruebas de la vacuna de los laboratorios Pfizer y BioNTech contra el coronavirus en la Argentina, se refirió a los detalles del estudio

www.infobae.com

7 August 2020
The details of the clinical trial of the vaccine against COVID-19 led by the scientist Fernando Polack at the Military Hospital Cosme S. Algerich
.....For Fernando Polack, "this study opens the door to a desire that we, all of us who participate in this program, all researchers, all Hospital authorities have, and that is to multiply these evaluations in the country, because there will be no vaccines for everyone this year, and probably for the first half of next year, simply because the vaccine companies never prepared to generate the amount of doses we need to protect the entire world. So this is going to have to be a joint effort of different vaccines that are bought in different countries, and when you participate in the solution, it is positioned very differently than when you are an observer of the situation. From this study, Argentina is an essential participant in the solution ”....

Los detalles del ensayo clínico de la vacuna contra COVID-19 que lidera el científico Fernando Polack en el Hospital Militar

En diálogo con Infobae, el coronel del Ejército Argentino Sergio Maldonado, director del nosocomio encargado de llevar adelante las pruebas de la vacuna de los laboratorios Pfizer y BioNTech contra el coronavirus en la Argentina, se refirió a los detalles del estudio

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