The Pfizer-BioNTech COVID0-19 mRNA vaccine has received FDA approval. This is really just a formality given that 100s …
of millions of doses have already been administered. Without being cynical the timing is more political than scientific; we know the vaccine works with minimal side effects, the timing is IMO more to enable an easier path to vaccine mandates and passports – which is fine but shouldn’t be disguised otherwise, if that is the case.
Honestly, it is a miracle that we have a number of safe and effective vaccines in such a short period of time [it usually takes closer to a decade to get through all the barriers]! With the highly transmissible delta variant going around it is critical that people are vaccinated as soon as possible. Last week in the US ~90,000 people were hospitalized with COVID-19; the vast majority unvaccinated. So, we can already see that severe COVID-19 is now a condition of the unvaccinated. The protection of vaccination from severe COVID-19 and hospitalization is not in question – all the reliable data point that direction.
Unfortunately, the data is also showing that protection from the vaccine wanes within a few months. Breakthrough infections are now a common occurrence and this is exemplified by the high profile positive cases (Senators Roger Wicker, Angus King, and John Hickenlooper), in the US in the past week; they all fully vaccinated. Cases are also increasing in Israel which initially set the example for rapid vaccination rates; there is now talk of fresh lockdowns to curb the spread of the delta variant. For this reason controversial, third doses (booster shots) have been suggested. Of course, there ethical considerations given that only 25% of the global population is now fully vaccinated with developing countries severely lagging behind. The director of the Africa CDC even commented about how booster shots are making a “mockery of vaccine equity”. Although it looks like booster shots are necessary. the ethics have to be considered carefully.
Given the waning of vaccine protection the next step would be to have rapid and reliable antibody tests to identify which people need a booster shot and which people don’t. Further, it will be interesting to determine if people infected with COVID-19 have more long-term and robust protection than those who are vaccinated; antibody tests would help.
Anyway, for now we are lucky to have safe and effective vaccines that are mostly preventing severe COVID-19 and hospitalization. Given the uptick in cases due to the delta variant, prudent public health measures including masking is still important. In this context, the biggest joke news has to be the – banning of the mask mandates – in Texas and Florida! That doesn’t make any sense – just weird!
In other (unrelated) news that does not make any sense and I came across in the past few days is that – “1 hot dog takes 36 minutes off your life” – GTFOH !!! Which hot dog? What type? So many questions… I reckon the pleasure you get from eating a hot dog adds 36 minutes to your life!
So, let’s get vaccinated and stick to proper news as much as possible.
Until next time …