Hey guys, gals, and those who are both, neither or somewhere inbetween. I’ve heard there’s a legend that if you go to a mirror after midnight, but before three in the morning and chant “vaccines are real, my disabilities are valid, and wearing a mask helps stop the spread.” Karen will jump out of the mirror and try to sell you essential oils and peddle some pseudoscience about carbon dioxide poisoning in masks while her unvaccinated son (who has polio) asks if you have games on your phone.
“Faced with the worst health crisis in modern times, Biden and other world leaders have chosen to support the interests of a few enormously rich companies. The same people who loudly disavowed Trump when he called COVID-19 the ‘Chinese virus’ have embraced their own variety of nativism, exerting reckless privilege while claiming to act in the interest of public health. All of this should be a scandal, but it isn’t. For the most part, people in rich countries have been relieved and content to have themselves and their families vaccinated after months of restrictions. Other countries remain an afterthought. Years of jingoistic policy under Trump and other nativist leaders worldwide have not inspired hope for global solidarity.”
Based on data compiled by Global Justice Now and released Saturday, “just 8 top Pfizer and Moderna shareholders” added a combined $10.31 billion to their fortunes last week after stock prices soared in response to the emergence of Omicron.
According to a statement by the group:
Moderna’s shares skyrocketed after the announcement and settled at $310.61/share on Wednesday 1 December, up 13.61% from $273.39/share since Wednesday 24 November, the day before the announcement. Pfizer’s shares rose by 7.41% from $50.91/share to $54.68/share.
Moderna’s CEO, Stephane Bancel, personally became more than $824m richer in the week after the announcement, with the value of his shares rising from $6,052,522,978 to $6,876,528,630. He sold off 10,000 shares for $319 each on 26 November, the day after the variant was announced, cashing out $3.19 million.
At close of business on Tuesday, Bancel’s shares had grown by $1.7 billion since the announcement, before falling after the company lost a legal dispute over patents.
Bancel has refused to share the recipe for Moderna’s vaccine with the World Health Organisation to help scale-up manufacturing of mRNA vaccines through its new hub in South Africa. WHO scientists are now trying to reverse-engineer the vaccine. His company is also waging a legal battle to erase the role of massive public funding and public scientists in developing the jab.
“In interviews last week, several advisers to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and to the Food and Drug Administration said data show that, with the exception of adults over age 65, the vast majority of Americans are already well protected against severe illness and do not need booster shots.
“All the advisers acknowledged that they were obligated to make difficult choices, based on sparse research, in the middle of a public health emergency. But some said they felt compelled to vote for the shots because of the way the federal agencies framed the questions that they were asked to consider.”
“Biden and his team are loathe to recommend against indoor holiday gatherings for another year, mindful that Americans are growing increasingly exhausted from pandemic-related restrictions.
“So, too, are Biden and his team mindful of not signaling an end to the pandemic after prematurely declaring ‘freedom from the virus’ over the summer. A subsequent surge due to the highly contagious Delta variant caused a return of mask requirements and closures, and led many Americans to sour on how Biden was handling the crisis.
“Once a bright spot in his poll numbers, more Americans now disapprove of Biden’s handling of the pandemic (49%) than approve (47%), according to a Washington Post-ABC News poll released this week.”
“Most of the vaccinations so far in the U.S. have come from Pfizer, which developed its shot with Germany’s BioNTech, and Moderna. They have inoculated about 99 million and 68 million people, respectively. Johnson & Johnson is third with about 14 million people.
“No one knows yet how many people will get the extra shots. But Morningstar analyst Karen Andersen expects boosters alone to bring in about $26 billion in global sales next year for Pfizer and BioNTech and around $14 billion for Moderna if they are endorsed for nearly all Americans.”
“The WHO strongly opposes the widespread rollout of booster shots, asking that wealthier nations instead give extra doses to countries with minimal vaccination rates. The U.S. has already administered over 2 million third doses nationwide, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and an advisory panel to the Food and Drug Administration unanimously recommended boosters on Friday for anyone 65 and older.
…
“”WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said on Sept. 14 that most countries with under 2% vaccination coverage are in Africa, where less than 3.5% of the continent’s eligible population is fully inoculated against Covid. Africa will likely miss the WHO’s target of a 10% vaccination rate by the end of the year, Tedros added.”
To be clear, I am 100% in favor of vaccinations and don’t even begrudge people getting boosters since ordinary people don’t decide who is getting vaccines.
But I am convinced the reasons everyone in wealthy countries is getting boosters are politics and profit, while millions of people in the Global South still haven’t received a single dose.
“In interviews last week, several advisers to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and to the Food and Drug Administration said data show that, with the exception of adults over age 65, the vast majority of Americans are already well protected against severe illness and do not need booster shots.
“All the advisers acknowledged that they were obligated to make difficult choices, based on sparse research, in the middle of a public health emergency. But some said they felt compelled to vote for the shots because of the way the federal agencies framed the questions that they were asked to consider.”
“Biden and his team are loathe to recommend against indoor holiday gatherings for another year, mindful that Americans are growing increasingly exhausted from pandemic-related restrictions.
“So, too, are Biden and his team mindful of not signaling an end to the pandemic after prematurely declaring ‘freedom from the virus’ over the summer. A subsequent surge due to the highly contagious Delta variant caused a return of mask requirements and closures, and led many Americans to sour on how Biden was handling the crisis.
“Once a bright spot in his poll numbers, more Americans now disapprove of Biden’s handling of the pandemic (49%) than approve (47%), according to a Washington Post-ABC News poll released this week.”
“Most of the vaccinations so far in the U.S. have come from Pfizer, which developed its shot with Germany’s BioNTech, and Moderna. They have inoculated about 99 million and 68 million people, respectively. Johnson & Johnson is third with about 14 million people.
“No one knows yet how many people will get the extra shots. But Morningstar analyst Karen Andersen expects boosters alone to bring in about $26 billion in global sales next year for Pfizer and BioNTech and around $14 billion for Moderna if they are endorsed for nearly all Americans.”
“The WHO strongly opposes the widespread rollout of booster shots, asking that wealthier nations instead give extra doses to countries with minimal vaccination rates. The U.S. has already administered over 2 million third doses nationwide, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and an advisory panel to the Food and Drug Administration unanimously recommended boosters on Friday for anyone 65 and older.
…
“”WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said on Sept. 14 that most countries with under 2% vaccination coverage are in Africa, where less than 3.5% of the continent’s eligible population is fully inoculated against Covid. Africa will likely miss the WHO’s target of a 10% vaccination rate by the end of the year, Tedros added.”
A damning new report shows that one of the leading COVID-19 vaccine makers appears to have played a role in restricting access to those very vaccines. The report, “Pfizer’s Power,” published this week by the consumer advocacy group Public Citizen, examines Pfizer’s contracts with the United States, United Kingdom, European Commission, Albania, Brazil, Colombia, Chile, Dominican Republic and Peru. They offer a rare glimpse into the power Pfizer has to silence governments, throttle supply, shift risk and maximize profits in the middle of a public health crisis.
Moderna accepted $2.5 billion in taxpayer money to develop its Covid-19 vaccine. But as the world faces a dire vaccine shortage, U.S. and overseas officials are having trouble persuading the company to license its technology.
A meeting of the World Trade Organization’s intellectual property council ended Thursday without action on a proposal to suspend patent rights on COVID-19 vaccines. The United Kingdom and some wealthy European Union nations, led by Germany, continue to oppose a patent waiver, which was first proposed over a year ago by India and South Africa and backed by over 100 WTO member nations. Since then, the world has recorded over 3.8 million COVID-19 deaths.
Moderna accepted $2.5 billion in taxpayer money to develop its Covid-19 vaccine. But as the world faces a dire vaccine shortage, U.S. and overseas officials are having trouble persuading the company to license its technology.
A meeting of the World Trade Organization’s intellectual property council ended Thursday without action on a proposal to suspend patent rights on COVID-19 vaccines. The United Kingdom and some wealthy European Union nations, led by Germany, continue to oppose a patent waiver, which was first proposed over a year ago by India and South Africa and backed by over 100 WTO member nations. Since then, the world has recorded over 3.8 million COVID-19 deaths.
Here is a roundup on some of the most recent research and scientific efforts against the coronavirus.
Novartis:
Novartis has reached an agreement with the US Food and Drug Administration to proceed with a phase III clinical trial of hydroxychloroquine in hospitalized Covid-19 patients. The large trial will be conducted at more than a dozen sites in the US and tested on approximately 440 patients to evaluate the use for this treatment.
Additionally, Norvatis plans to make its hydroxychloroquine intellectual property available to support broad access to hydroxychloroquine. Read more here.
Causaly
Causaly, an innovative technology company that harnesses AI to interpret vast databases of biomedical knowledge, is collaborating with UCL academics to increase research on potential therapeutic agents and the identification of biomarkers.
Several researchers and research groups within UCL have been granted access to Causaly technology, allowing them the access to rapidly analyse and derive insights from biomedical literature.
As part of the UK’s wider efforts to support the development of a vaccine, a new government-led Vaccine Taskforce will soon be launched to drive forward the manufacturing and research efforts to fight the virus.
The government will review regulations to facilitate fast and safe vaccine trials, as well as operational plans, to ensure a vaccine can be produced at a large scale when it becomes available. Industry and academic institutions will be given the resources and support needed.
Business Secretary Alok Sharma said, ‘UK scientists are working as fast as they can to find a vaccine that fights coronavirus, saving and protecting people’s lives. We stand firmly behind them in their efforts. The Vaccine Taskforce is key to coordinating efforts to rapidly accelerate the development and manufacture of a potential new vaccine.’ Read more here.
A new biosensor for the COVID-19 virus
Research teams at Empa and ETH Zurich have developed an alternative test method in the form of an optical biosensor. The sensor made up of gold nanostructure, known as gold nonoislands on a glass substrate, combines two different effects to detect covid-19: an optical and a thermal one.
According to the release, ‘Artificially produced DNA receptors that match specific RNA sequences of the SARS-CoV-2 [virus] are grafted onto the nanoislands,’ and researchers will then use the optical phenomena, - localised surface plasmon resonance - to monitor the presence of the virus.
The biosensor is not yet ready to be used to monitor and detect COVID-19, however tests showed the sensor can distinguish between very similar RNA sequences of SARS-CoV-2 virus and its relative, SARS-Cov. Read more here.
For more information and more updates on the coronavirus, please visit our hubhere.
The COVID vaccine came out super quickly. Here’s why it’s safe.
There are different types of vaccines, but they all have the same purpose.
The first one ever created was for smallpox. A doctor realized that people who got a milder but similar virus called cowpox seemed to be immune to smallpox.
By fighting off cowpox, the body had learned to recognize smallpox and produce antibodies to ward it off. This is fundamentally how vaccines function today. Teaching the body to fight smallpox, however, required injecting cow scabs into humans, and risking real illness.
Although traditional vaccines have taken years to develop, scientists have harnessed a much faster method for the COVID vaccine.
The technique, used to create both the Moderna and Pfizer vaccines, uses mRNA — or messenger RNA — to make harmless versions of the spike proteins found on the COVID-19 virus. In earlier vaccines, scientists had to make those proteins in a lab and then transfer them into the vaccine.
With mRNA, our body produces the proteins — a vastly quicker and more efficient process. It does this so well because our body already knows how to make mRNA (and does all the time). mRNA is like a blank piece of paper that our cell nucleus encodes instructions into in order to make proteins that control bodily processes, like hormones. Our cell nucleus then “mails” the mRNA it’s encoded out into the rest of the body. This process happens inside us every moment of the day.
Remember when the pandemic started and some people were really into baking bread?
Lots of people embraced the comfort of sourdough to get them through the frightening first months of the pandemic. Ironically, the reason we can eat bread at all is because thousands of years ago a virus helped us develop a new enzyme that made it easier to digest carbohydrates.
Viruses have developed hand-in-hand with humankind, sometimes — as we’ve seen with COVID-19 — to deadly effect. Humans have fought back, developing in the process the concept of vaccines, with the first effective, modern vaccine coming on the scene more than 200 years ago.
Today’s COVID-19 vaccines work in much the same way as those early inoculations but are safer and more effective. It’s true that they were developed with historic speed — but only because they were built on decades of basic research that allowed us to deliver them in record time.
Everybody is talking about it. It’s shaping up to be one of the worst flu seasons in years. And, with all the commotion It never fails, we hear it every year-“Nah man, I don’t mess with the flu shot! The last time I got it, it gave me the flu!” Or, the always classic “Why would I get that shot again? Last year I got it, and still got the flu!”. With that being said, we decided to sit down and put together a short article on why getting the flu shot won’t give you the flu, but also why it can’t guarantee you won’t get it either.
THE BASICS:Without getting too “sciency” on you, lets talk about the flu shot itself. When you get a flu shot, what you’re actually getting is what’s known as a “dead virus”, which means the virus in the shot is, well, dead. “There is simply no way that the flu vaccine can give you the flu,”saysChristine Hay, MD, assistant professor at the University of Rochester Medical Center. “It’s impossible” (we’ll explain why it’s impossible later).
“WHERE MY DOGS AT?”: At this point, you’re probably wondering to yourself, if what’s in the flu-shot is “dead” then what’s the point of getting it, right? Fair question, and here’s a simple way to think of it. Your body has its own defense against “intruders” (i.e. your immune system), you can think of these as guard dogs, running throughout your body, attacking suspicious looking characters who might otherwise do you harm. These guard dogs have been trained to sniff out your run-of-the-mill “home intruders”, so most of the time when an intruder (playing the role of a virus in our scenario) tries to make its way into your body, your dogsare on the prowl and ready to handle your dirty work!
There’s only one problem in this hypothetical scenario. Every year the home intruders get a little more clever, and they switch things up. Maybe they ditch the ski mask, its too obvious. Instead, this year they decided to roll with the hoodie instead, it’s a little less suspicious. Now imagine the intruder makes his way inside your house, and it isn’t until he starts wrecking shop that your guard dogs realize “Aww snap! We have a problem here!” at which point they jump into action and try their best to control the situation. But, they’re a little late to react to the intruder (they didn’t know what to make of their new disguise at first), and he was able to break a few things and got away with some property.
Granted, the dogs eventually sprung into action, but the damage had already been done. They only upside to this scenario is that if the home intruders come around again, dressed similarly to the recent intruders (i.e. wearing hoodies), your dogs will be ready to spring into action.
FLU-SHOT IN TRAINING: What the flu shot does is basically offer up “training” for your guard dogs. The three most common “looks” for home intruders in your neighborhood are identified, rag-doll versions of them are made, and dressed to look exactly like them. The dogs are then introduced to the rag-doll intruders, and trained to attack them on sight! Even if it takes them a little while to be trained (just like it takes the flu shot a few weeks to “kick in”), it’s okay because the rag-dolls pose no threat, they’re not real, just as the dead virus in the flu-shot is not a threat.
The idea is this: Now that the guard dogs know what they’re looking for, if and when the actual intruders show up, there will be little to no delay in attacking, and shutting them down! With no time to wreck shop, the bad guys stand little chance to do any harm to the home or the people inside!
SO, WHY DID I STILL GET THE FLU LAST YEAR?: Now that you (hopefully) have a little better understanding of why we get flu shots, and how they work, lets talk about why some people still get the flu, despite having received their shot. One explanation is simply that (again, continuing with our guard dog and home intruder analogy from above) the home intruder was not dressed like one of the three included in the vaccine. Makers of the the flu-shots do their best to identify the top three strains they think will most likely be infecting people in your area. However, there is no way they can possibly account for allof the flu strains (just like it would be impossible to guess what everypotentialhome intruder would look like). But, life is all about percentages and odds, so the idea is to stack the odds in your favor: If you’re at risk for catching the flu (which we all are), here are the most likely critters to get you, and here is a vaccine against those strains. It’s that simple.
A more obvious explanation can be that you were exposed to the flu virus before you received your shot, or in the two weeks it takes for the shot to start protecting your body. Lastly, some people just love a good conspiracy theory, and at the first sign of a sniffle or a cough, will mistake their symptoms for the flu instead of what it actually is, a simple cold.
Injury-Duty Insight:There you have it. Now you know how the flu shot works, and even why it sometimes doesn’t. Keep in mind that flu seasonin the United States tends to start around November and continues to peak all the way through April, so there’s plenty of reason to still go out and get yours, should you want it. Also keep in mind that children (over 6 months) and elderly (over 65 years old) should be first in line to get their shots, because the babies, well their guard dogs are just puppies (they need all the training they can get!) and the older folks, well their guard dogs don’t react as quickly as they used to, so they need all the head-start they can get!
