New Variant (Botswana) (General)

by dan, Saturday, November 27, 2021, 09:51 (853 days ago) @ dulan drift

I find the following excerpt of this story on USA Today confusing:


Omicron's mutations could possibly reduce current vaccines' effectiveness, but are unlikely to eliminate their benefit, according to Dr. Ashish Jha, dean of Brown University’s School of Public Health.

"There are a series of mutations in key regions that may impact effectiveness of our vaccines," tweeted Jha on Friday. "Render vaccines useless? No. Super unlikely."

What does that mean? Are they going to consider 20% effectiveness as a benefit?


Moderna's strategy involves three options for boosting COVID-19 vaccination, should omicron prove problematic for current vaccines.

The three options, according to a Friday release from the company: A higher dose booster, shots currently being studied that are designed to "anticipate mutations such as those that have emerged in the Omicron variant" and an omicron-specific booster — which is already in the works.

Let's examine these three options:
1. A higher dose booster. Clear enough. But of course the safety of that hasn't been studied.
2. shots currently being studied that are designed to "anticipate mutations such as those that have emerged in the Omicron variant" I don't think they could possibly be less clear. Does this mean they have some new vaccine in the works that hasn't been tested? What does it mean?
3. an omicron-specific booster -- again, does this refer to essentially a new vaccine that hasn't gone through any safety studies?


Andy Slavitt, who previously served as President Joe Biden's White House senior adviser for COVID response, said in a tweet that both Moderna and Pfizer-BioNTech have estimated a vaccine to combat a new variant could be developed in about 3 months, with regulatory and logistical hurtles to follow.

So, new vaccine in three months, with regulatory and logistical hurtles to follow. No doubt those hurtles for this new vaccine will be set ridiculously low.

"If we start in early December, new vaccines could be available by summer in much of the world," Slavitt tweeted.

What? So, new vaccine developed and safety signed off on in the course of six or seven months? And I'm supposed to have confidence in that?

Multiple media organizations on Friday reported Pfizer-BioNTech is studying the new variant and expects data within weeks. If warranted, a targeted vaccine could be developed within 6 weeks and ship within 100 days, the reports say.

There you go. A targeted, i.e., new, vaccine shipping in three months according to Pfizer. Who is watching out for safety?


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