WASHINGTON – A huge study of another COVID-19 vaccine candidate is getting underway Monday as states in the U.S. continue to roll out scarce supplies of the nation’s first shot options.
The U.S. has authorized emergency use of two vaccines, one made by Pfizer and BioNTech and the other by Moderna, but doses will be rationed for months.
The candidate made by Novavax Inc. is the fifth to reach final-stage testing in the U.S. Some 30,000 volunteers are needed to prove if this vaccine – a different kind than its Pfizer and Moderna competitors – really works and is safe.
“If you want to have enough vaccine to vaccinate all the people in the U.S. who you’d like to vaccinate – up to 85% or more of the population – you’re going to need more than two companies,” Dr. Anthony Fauci, the top U.S. infectious disease expert, told The Associated Press.
The study, which is funded by the U.S. government, is open to all adults but will focus on high-risk older adults and volunteers from Black and Hispanic communities who have been hard-hit by the virus. Two-thirds of volunteers will receive the vaccine and the rest will get dummy shots.
The Novavax candidate uses lab-grown harmless copies of the spike protein that coats the coronavirus to train the body to recognize if the real virus comes along. The Pfizer and Moderna vaccines instead use a newer technology, injecting the genetic code for that protein.
In the U.S., Johnson & Johnson and AstraZeneca also have vaccine candidates in late-stage U.S. testing.
This pandemic proved that the U.S. health care system is a disaster. Yes, we need to get vaccines out and bring the virus under control so that the economy can regenerate. There cannot be a prosperous economy without a healthy population. It’s time to follow through with the health care improvements most voters wanted. Without a health care infrastructure we will never be productive enough to keep up with the rest of the developed world.
COVID19 is just the first in a series of new pathogens that are going to hit humans. If the US continues to react as with COVID19, we are in trouble at every level.
As the saying goes, “You’re only as strong as your weakest link.” and Trump is the weakest link just like Wilson was in the 1918 flu epidemic. Anderson Cooper had a good docu yesterday on CNN about the 1918 pandemic that showed the similarities between then and now. Leadership is important, and I think the medical community has stepped up, but the nation’s leadership is what is missing. Team work is important and Trump is not a team player.
This is nice, but I want to know how the roll out is proceeding. Are the states finally getting the vaccine allotted or is it still being warehoused?
I bought some Inovio stock when they were mentioned as a dark horse contender in the early days of the vaccine startups. I sold it when it made a decent run, and it fell back to approx. $10 a share. I heard there was some decently good news on their horizon…not all about Covid…and got back in again. Theirs, from what I can tell, does not require refrigeration but does need it’s own little delivery device to prick/inject.
Does anyone here have any extra insight into their long-term chances of success, and if there will be enough room on the playing field for their unique approach?