I think what I initially heard or read was the vaccine appeared less effective in lab testing against these newer variants of the virus. But, that doesn't necessarily translate into the same immune response in humans. I don't think they know enough yet to say one way or another. They are still testing whether these variants can evade the immune response caused by vaccination. I would say the jury is out. These coronavirus variants are keeping scientists awake at night - CNN
Shouldn’t impact much of anyone but cdc being more flexible is being realistic because ... reality is things get messed up sometime. Another rare-ist (is that a word) circumstances not mentioned below: if you had monoclonal antibodies treatment after the 1st shot due to covid, cdc also recommend your 2nd shot is delayed for 3m. This one doesn’t make too much sense to me. https://www.beckershospitalreview.c...ine-doses-ok-in-rare-situations-cdc-says.html The CDC updated federal vaccine recommendations Jan. 21 to allow second COVID-19 doses from a different manufacturer in "exceptional situations," reports The New York Times. The agency also said people may receive a second dose up to six weeks after the first if it's not feasible to follow the recommended four-week window. The CDC's "intention is not to suggest people do anything different, but provide clinicians with flexibility for exceptional circumstances," spokesperson Kristen Nordlund told the Times. The new guidelines still assert that approved COVID-19 vaccines are not interchangeable. However, they do allow for any available mRNA vaccine to be used for the second dose if the "first-dose vaccine product cannot be determined or is no longer available," the guidelines state. While Pfizer and Moderna's vaccines both rely on the same mRNA technology, the CDC's Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices recommended against mixing vaccine doses. The guideline change marks the first time the CDC has strayed from the advisory group's COVID-19 vaccine recommendations.
Excellent story detailing Pfizer's efforts in getting out their vaccine. Bit crazy coordinating a supply chain with a product that hadn't been approved for release yet. https://apple.news/AGkOOGaBpSAKI51d5PmbjsQ About the two dose/availability problem... That might be a consequence of not having the leisure time of testing out other candidates with traditional testing phases (years instead of months). Deep freezing those suckers also a consequence for the Pfizer variety...
Looks like we are consistently over 1 million doses/day. The 7 day moving average is at 1.06 million/day and we did another 1.3 million today. We are up to 18.5 million with one dose. https://ourworldindata.org/covid-vaccinations https://covid.cdc.gov/covid-data-tracker/#vaccinations
Well, there's that and then there's the CDC director telling people the federal government doesn't know how much vaccine they have. I'm not sure what to make of that.
For the US the light at the end of the tunnel seems pretty close. For the rest of the world not so much. There aren't really cohesive plans for dealing with how countries will treat vaccinated people either. Canada for example doesn't even care if you are vaccinated. You would still have to quarantine for 14 days even if you test negative multiple times.
I'll just keep trusting the companies that are continuing to produce the vaccines. The Oxford vaccine might not be reliable with production, but Moderna, Pfizer, and J&J all seem to feel confident in hitting their targets. Remember we don't need much more than we are already expected to be given by the end of Q2. Roughly 25% of the US isn't even eligible to take the vaccine because they are under 18 which means there are about 240-250 million possible people to be vaccinated. We should have all those doses by the end of Q2 at the latest. https://www.bloomberg.com/news/arti...boost-covid-vaccine-target-to-2-billion-doses Pfizer Inc. and BioNTech SE plan to produce 2 billion doses of their Covid-19 vaccine this year, boosting previously expected output by more than 50% in response to surging global demand. The companies have already agreed to deliver more than 1 billion doses in pacts with various countries, BioNTech said in a presentation at the JP Morgan Healthcare Conference on Monday. The European Union last week sealed a deal to double its supply of Pfizer-BioNTech shots to as many as 600 million, while the U.S. has locked in a total of 200 million doses. Vaccine supply has been under scrutiny as faster-spreading virus variants emerge and the distribution effort in the U.S. faces strains. Pfizer and BioNTech’s vaccine is intended to be given in two doses 21 days apart. But some countries, including the U.K., have elected to stretch out the time between shots in an effort to immunize more people as virus cases soar. Previously, Pfizer and BioNTech had expected to produce 1.3 billion doses this year. While the companies plan to ramp up output with the help of contract manufacturers, the new target also takes into account a label change that allows doctors to extract six doses instead of five from each vaccine vial, BioNTech said. https://www.npr.org/sections/health...ouble-covid-19-vaccine-deliveries-to-meet-goa Moderna said it hasn't been releasing weekly or monthly production estimates, so it couldn't provide more details about how it will deliver significantly more doses to the United States in the coming weeks to meet its first-quarter goal. "We continue to be on track with our expectations of delivering 100 million doses of vaccine by the end of Q1, and 200 million doses by the end of Q2," Moderna spokesperson Ray Jordan wrote in an email to NPR. "Production and releases are not linear and we have explained that we have been successfully scaling up our production yields over time." On Dec. 15, Vice President Pence visited the Catalent contract manufacturing facility making finished vaccine doses for Moderna, where leadership told him they were completing 500,000 doses a day and hoped to double production to meet delivery goals. They described employees working "tirelessly" and volunteering to work Thanksgiving and Christmas. Pfizer didn't respond to NPR's request for comment. But it slashed vaccine deliveries for some European Union countries this week, according to Reuters. Gortler said he worked at Pfizer for several years, and if it's running behind, it's probably because of its attention to quality. "I'm sure that if they're rejecting things, that's actually what you want to hear," he said. "So in my mind, it's a good thing." To hit their goals, Moderna and Pfizer each need to increase shipments to 7.5 million doses from 4.3 million per week in a hurry. The task is difficult but not impossible. John McShane, a managing partner at the health care product consulting firm Validant, said he's "guardedly optimistic" that the companies will be able to scale up manufacturing drastically and deliver 100 million doses each by March 31.
Note the booster shot for the South African variant. They were talking about a possible 3rd shot down the road, but this is still good news as far as I’m concerned. Another article : Moderna says it's working on Covid booster shot for variant in South Africa
Which basically is an admission that their vaccine isn't as effective against at least this one variant and they don't know how less effective it actually is but are concerned enough to be working on a booster. All we know is it still offers some protection. Does that translate into...if you do get sick with the variant after their vaccination...are you at least going to be less ill and less likely to experience complications? I would assume that would be the case.
I plan on taking a trip to Asia this summer. I hope it works out. I presume the numbers have to start going down everywhere and people will begin to feel more comfortable about travel.
Not to be a worry wort or a downer, but... Nature magazine news: New South African variant can apparently evade immune response. Evidence is growing that some coronavirus variants could evade immune responses triggered by vaccines and previous infections. Researchers are trying to make sense of a tsunami of lab studies released this week that raise concerns about some emerging variants and mutations. “Some of the data I’ve seen in the last 48 hours have really scared me,” says Daniel Altmann, an immunologist at Imperial College London, who worries that some of results could portend a reduction in the effectiveness of COVID-19 vaccines. But the picture is murky, Altmann and other scientists emphasize. The studies — which examined the blood of small numbers of people who had recovered from COVID-19 or received a vaccine — probed only their antibodies’ capacity to ‘neutralize’ variants in laboratory tests, and not the wider effects of other components of their immune response.
Check out the rest of the article. Maybe I misread things but it seemed like that article backs up what Moderna said.
lol ok fine no more cliches. The US is expected to have 200 million doses from Pfizer and Moderna by the end of March. The US has agreements for 200 million more doses from Pfizer and Moderna to be delivered in the 2nd quarter. Johnson and Johnson will have 100 million one shot doses by the end of May.
Not sure about that. The UK, Spain, and many other countries thought they were past the worst of the pandemic a couple of months ago. Then they were hit with their largest spike ever. The US has been trailing Europe by a couple of months, so it’s possible we may see yet another huge spike in the coming months. More contagious variants of the virus are coming to the US. Will we be able to vaccinate enough people in the next couple of months to make a major difference? I don’t know. I hope that the combination of warmer weather and increased vaccination will be enough to greatly reduce cases and deaths this spring. But, I think it will still be many months before it feels like things are back to normal.
At least in my experience it was the length of time for my body to create an immune response that was the issue that seemed to be where I could see it causing complications. Especially pneumonia. So I think as long as the vaccine is similar in the makeup of the virus, it would seem to be helpful in getting your immune system to create a response, but I'm no expert of course. The issue just really seems to be time. The longer this virus is allowed to spread, the more and more variants it can create, and the harder it'll be the vaccinate. We really missed our window to have created a mass vaccination structure with a national online registry, working website, etc. etc. with the military operating centers all across the country.
