The potential vaccines are in phase 3 of the clinical trials which is the last phase before the vaccines are deemed ready to be administered to the people infected with the virus. It appears to be that there will be more than one vaccine available some time towards the end of this year or at the beginning of next year.
How do we know what is the right vaccine for us? It's probably based on age, gender, ethnicity, pre-existing conditions, hospital and health insurance approval, location, cost, or what stage is the patient is in the infection, etc... Does everyone who is infected will receive a vaccine? They should receive the vaccine because the infection will continue to spread even though they don't show any symptoms.
Age is a factor. They will administer the vaccines first to the older people or people who are in need of the vaccines immediately because they are in the worst stage of the infection. Are covid babies able to receive vaccines also? Hopefully.
It may depend on the availability also. The hospital may only have one available type of vaccine to be administered to the patients even though other vaccines that weren't available due to shortage or the hospital never receiving them at the time are actually more effective. Why should patients receive a vaccine that worsens their pre-existing conditions? The patients may have to wait until the hospital receives the appropriate supplies of vaccines. I could see the hospitals running out of supplies of vaccines especially when the vaccines becomes available for the first time. I heard that they are mass producing around 30 million vaccines.
There are more potential vaccines that they are working on at the moment however they had a late start and are still in clinical trials - phase 1 or 2. These vaccines are likely better and have less harmful side effects but are people willing to wait longer for a better vaccines or should they begin receiving the first vaccines that comes out to the public? It's likely that the virus will continue to spread for another year or so and therefore people will eventually be receiving a better version of the previous vaccines and some new vaccines also. People receiving vaccines and recovering from this pandemic crisis does not suggest that people should stop staying at home, wearing mask, practice social distancing, getting tested, avoiding large mass gathering, sanitizing, etc... because we are far from getting back to normal. They will eventually reopen the stores and restaurants but if the pandemic resurges again then they may have to reclose again until it's safe.
A new coronavirus mutation has become the most dominant strain of the virus — and is causing outbreaks to spread more quickly across the world, an expert said.
Professor Nick Loman, of the University of Birmingham, who is part of the COVID-19 Genomics Consortium, told BBC Radio 4’s “Today” program that the mutation, known as D614G, is forming clusters more quickly in the UK than the original virus from Wuhan.
“It exists in the spike protein, which is a very important way that the coronavirus can enter human cells, and we have been noticing in the UK and worldwide that this mutation has been increasing in frequency,” Loman said. “This mutation was predicted first by computer modeling to have some impact on the structure of that protein and the ability of the virus to bind and enter cells and then quite recently was shown in laboratory experiments to increase the infectivity of cells.”
Scientists came to the conclusion after analyzing more than 40,000 genomes in the UK, according to Loman.
The new mutation, however, is not believed to cause a greater risk of death or lengthier hospital stays,the Telegraph reported.
Loman called the mutation “the most dominant mutation — it’s about 75 percent of cases.”
“This increase in this mutation is a worldwide phenomenon,” he added. “The original virus out of Wuhan had the D-type, but the G-type has become much more dominant across the world, including the UK.”
However, the strain is not expected to impact the process of finding a vaccine for COVID-19, he added.
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He also attempted to alleviate any concerns that the mutation might signal a deadly new phase for the coronavirus.
“It’s a small impact, we think, and we’re not completely confident about that, but we found by testing what happened in the UK that the viruses that contained the G-type of mutation seemed to form clusters of cases faster, which ended up being bigger than viruses with the D-mutation,” the professor said. “We didn’t see any significant association with survival and the length of hospital stays with this mutation — we don’t think this mutation is important in changing virulence. The effect seems to be on transmissibility.”
Dr. Heidi J. Zapata, a Yale Medicine infectious disease specialist and immunologist, also said there’s not enough conclusive evidence to suggest the virus is becoming more infectious or deadly.
“Currently, we do not have sufficient evidence to come to any conclusions about the virus becoming more malicious or benign,”Zapata told CNET. “We simply know that certain variants have become more prominent, such as the D614G strain. However, currently, our evidence about D614G shows that it is not causing different clinical outcomes in humans.”
A new mask allows people to drink without taking it off or exposing their mouth
By Alaa Elassar, CNN
Updated 4:09 PM ET, Tue July 21, 2020
(CNN)As restaurants, malls and amusement parks around the country reopen, masks have become a necessary part of today's new normal. But covering your nose and mouth in this summer heat isn't easy, especially when it means you can't take a drink of water -- or anything else.
That's led one company to launch the Redee mask, which allows customers to sip on their drinks without risking their safety. The mask, sold by Redee Patch, uses a flap at the base of the mask for people to safely insert a straw without exposing their mouths.
"Our goal is to help people safely drink with their masks on and slow the spread," Redee founder Ryan Lee told CNN. "Since masks might be here for a while, we felt there needed to be something that lets us keep our masks on and have a drink when we're shopping, at a bar, on a plane or at places where masks are required or social distancing is difficult."
While there are other masks with holes or zippers to give people the ability to drink while wearing them, these alternatives still expose the mouth -- which poses a risk of transmitting the coronavirus.
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The idea to design a mask that makes drinking possible while covering the mouth came from a desire to help essential workers -- such as baristas, waitresses, cashiers and flight attendants -- who have to work long hours while wearing a mask that makes drinking impossible, according to Lee.
This new mask also comes at a time when bars are struggling to find ways to safely reopen. As Disney World tightens its mask requirement, with guests no longer allowed to eat or drink while walking, the Redee mask will also come in handy at entertainment venues such as amusement parks.
"Since seeing our mask, so many people have told us that they've been wanting to have their water, coffee or tea while they're out or working, but can't," Lee said. "Our product hopefully gives people around the world an easy way to safely enjoy their drink and still do their part by keeping their mask on."
The adjustable Redee Mask is one-size-fits-most and comes with adjustable ear straps. It is available to order online for $24.99.
The first injection for Moderna's vaccine in partnership with the National Institutes of Health happened at 6:45 a.m. on Monday in Savannah, Georgia. The trial aims to enroll about 30,000 people from 89 widely dispersed sites across the U.S. over the next couple of months.
Fauci called it a "truly historic event in the history of vaccinology" on a call with reporters. He said that emerging data from the trial should be available in November or December, and insisted that despite the speed of the development, "there is no compromise at all with regard to safety or scientific integrity."
It is the first possible coronavirus vaccine to enter a phase three trial in the U.S. Phase one typically looks at a small number of people to see if the vaccine is safe. Phase two looks at an expanded group of people again to access safety and to see if the vaccine works. In the final phase three, the vaccine is tested in thousands of people to determine efficacy before seeking regulatory approval.
If the vaccine remains on track, Moderna previously said it will be able to deliver "approximately 500 million doses per year, and possibly up to 1 billion doses per year" starting in 2021.
Gupta: Let me just ask you one other thing. You've got about a third of the country that is already demonstrating some vaccine hesitancy -- they're already sort of showing some trepidation about this new vaccine that is not even out yet. How do you how do you handle vaccine hesitancy?
Graham: The reason this is important is that I'm hoping that this vaccine could be as much as 70 or 80% effective -- I think that would be a success. We need 60 or 70% of immunity [in the population] to really establish what's called herd immunity. That means almost 100% of people would have to be vaccinated to establish that level of immunity in the population. So, if a third of people don't take it, we'll only be able to reach around 40 or 50% immunity in the population with that type of a vaccine. I think it's really important for that third of people to come along and try to help us and understand how these vaccines work so they won't be so hesitant.
