COVID Transmissions for 2-8-2021
B.1.351 escapes another vaccine
Good morning and welcome to COVID Transmissions. Welcome back from the weekend! Let’s have a great week.
It has been 448 days since the first documented human case of COVID-19. A year has now passed since the first known death from COVID-19 in the US (this milestone was passed over the weekend).
Some vaccine news over the weekend that we will go over today.
As usual, bolded terms are linked to the running newsletter glossary.
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Now, let’s talk COVID.
AstraZeneca vaccine apparently less effective against B.1.351 variant of SARS-CoV-2
Well, this is bad news. Following evidence that the Novavax vaccine was less effective in South Africa, we now also have a study showing that the AstraZeneca-Oxford vaccine is less effective against the B.1.351 variant that is found in 90% of patients in the country. This is covered in this news story: https://www.nbcnews.com/news/world/south-africa-halts-astrazeneca-vaccine-after-study-questions-effectiveness-against-n1256981
This news comes from a 2000-person study, mostly in young adults, showing that the vaccine provided only minimal protection against mild and moderate COVID-19. However, because of the patient population, the study tells us very little about the impact on severe disease and death. Nonetheless, on the basis of these results, South Africa is planning not to administer the AstraZeneca-Oxford vaccine to patients in the country.
This situation is cause for alarm, but it does not necessarily mean the walls are coming down around us. It remains apparent that these vaccines are able to lessen the severity of disease to at least some degree. However this underscores the incredible importance of getting more vaccines on the market as soon as possible.
Johnson and Johnson vaccine to be reviewed by the FDA
The FDA has set a date to review the Johnson and Johnson vaccine: February 26th. This means they will be taking 22 days to make a decision, something that has raised the ire of the noted baseball statistician and political journalist Nate Silver.
I take a dim view of rushing the review process, and I had to laugh out loud at this piece from The Verge that tore into Silver’s criticism, while also doing a good job of explaining why FDA reviews take time: https://www.theverge.com/2021/2/6/22269580/fda-johnson-and-johnson-vaccine-covid-review-antivirus
Another point that needs to be made here is that we already knew that Johnson and Johnson will not be able to deliver its vaccine to market in substantial amounts until April. This is a manufacturing issue that was previously announced and was covered in this newsletter. Even if the FDA did as Silver suggested and “ordered a few pizzas” in order to rush their review of this vaccine this weekend, it wouldn’t fix that manufacturing issue. Given that there is already this delay, it makes even more sense to take the time to review the product in full.
When all is said and done, I expect that we will have yet another approved vaccine on the US market soon.
Considering a combination vaccine strategy
Courtesy of Carl Fink, I found an article from Nature News that looks into the possibility of combining different vaccine technologies into a multidose strategy that might provide better protection. Longtime readers will know I’ve suggested this before—and I’m not the only one—but it’s nice to see it explored in depth in the article: https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-021-00315-5
What am I doing to cope with the pandemic? This:
Watching: The Expanse
I’ve plugged this show before, but it has just finished its fifth season and I believe it’s one of the finest things I’ve ever seen in the sci-fi genre. This show really has everything that one looks for in a space story—compelling characters, a deep sociopolitical background, space battles, a solid scientific foundation, and an imaginative push against the boundaries of science.
I wish I could forget watching it so I could go back and watch it again for the first time.
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See you all next time.
Always,
JS