COVID Transmissions for 9-8-2020
The "approved" Russian vaccine finally has some data
Good morning! It has been 295 days since the first documented human case of COVID-19.
I hope everyone in the US and its territories had a nice Labor Day weekend. It was quiet for us though we did get out a bit to enjoy some lovely weather.
As usual, bolded terms are linked to the running newsletter glossary.
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Now, let’s talk COVID.
Russian vaccine data
A study in The Lancet reports on two nonrandomized trials of the Russian vaccine that was “approved” earlier this summer. I put approved in scare quotes there because it was based on no data and didn’t actually make the vaccine available.
In these trials, the safety of two vaccine formulations was assessed: one is a dried preparation and the other is a preparation that is shipped frozen. In both cases the vaccine was based on the use of two different adenovirus vector backbones, with two doses of the vaccine administered.
As in other SARS-CoV-2 vaccine trials, adverse reactions were mild during the 42 day total followup of the trial, and neutralizing antibodies were detectable within a few weeks.
As in past early trial data, this tells us very little and still doesn’t support the approval of the vaccine. But it does indicate that an immune response is happening, and that’s better than nothing.
Study here: https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PIIS0140-6736(20)31866-3/fulltext
The ethics of vaccine distribution
A piece in Science magazine explores a new framework for ethical distribution of a vaccine early on in deployment. Their key principle? Avoiding premature deaths. That is, avoiding the deaths of people who are healthy enough to be expected to live otherwise.
Read it here: https://science.sciencemag.org/content/early/2020/09/02/science.abe2803
What am I doing to cope with the pandemic? This:
Labor Day
My wife and I went to see my parents for a distanced Labor Day barbecue, which was really nice.
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Thanks for reading, everyone—hope you all have a great week.
See you all next time.
Always,
JS