Vaccine Praecox

 https://www.nytimes.com/2020/12/11/opinion/covid-bats.html

We are at bat thanks to my fave, David Quammen, who I hope is not still saying pangolins are Sars-Co-V2 intermediate hosts, which has not been shown conclusively. Order Chiroptera, mammals, like us. 200 of their species are threatened with extinction. Three of their species feed on bird and mammalian blood, guaranteed not be make them the life of any party. The vampire bat has heat sensors as an adaptation. The reason there is spillover of bat viruses into humans is our intrusion into their habitats, taking guano for fertilizer or transporting them live to market: us creating disruption, as our species is wont to do. I think they are beautiful but I have only once been in a cave (Cuba, 2016). I have had a bat in my house; a mental picture of my husband in his boxers wielding a straw broom is enough to endear them to me. (The bat won.) We may learn from this order; for example, how does the bat immune system tolerate Sars-Co-V2 infection without suffering symptoms. Bats also eat harmful insects and are pollinators, spread seeds and generate fruit trees. They do succumb to diseases like the white-nose syndrome now in 33 US states and Canadian provinces. This fungus has caused a 90% decline in 3 bat species and losses in 4 more. And this syndrome is believed to have been caused by human action.

 

https://www.nytimes.com/2020/12/06/science/space/jupiter-saturn-align-christmas-star.html

There are other planets besides Earth and they are doing stuff; in this case Jupiter and Saturn are pulling closer to one another until they are, as now, about a tenth of a degree apart. This is called "the great conjunction" and happens every 20 years, which means, I had better pay attention this go-around. This is the closest visible encounter between these two planets since the Middle Ages. Used to be, in ancient times, this was viewed as a portent of evil things to come, as if things aren't bad enough. So, tomorrow night, look towards the southwest. The planets, though they appear close, will be about 400 million miles apart.

https://www.inquirer.com/opinion/commentary/covid-vaccine-distribution-us-biden-trump-20201207.html

This from the Inquirer asking President-Elect (I don't mind saying that) Biden to join with other nations in an 180-nation initiative to speed the development, production and distribution of the vaccine. This is called the COVAX or Covid-19 Vaccines Global Access Facility  and includes all of America's traditional allies  as well as China and the developing world, which will receive subsidized access to any vaccines (why not free, editorial comment). Biden is going to return the US to WHO. US needs to rejoin the world: we need it. 

https://www.nytimes.com/2020/12/08/business/covid-vaccine-oxford-astrazeneca.html

From the NYT about AstraZeneca's "blunders". We need and want the best science but mistakes happen especially when so much is at stake. The AZ vaccines was supposed to make up as much as 60% of the total vaccine supply in the US. It seems that the trials were halted in a late-stage study in the US due to neurological illness in one of the study participants, which data was not promptly released.  Oxford researchers provided the Lancet detailed data for the vaccine showing that there may have been some discrepancies in the measurements of the concentration of the vaccine, it having been revised upwards due to an excipient, one of the non-active ingredients. Apparently some of the clintrials participants received half of the intended dose. There is a lot at stake, to repeat, in developing a vaccine in the middle of a pandemic. Although the UK has approved this vaccine, the US is waiting to review all of the data and A-Z may begin a new trial in order to gather comprehensive data on half-strength vaccine protection. People are currently being vaccinated with Pfizer and Moderna vaccines, both of which work by the same mechanism, which is not true of the A-Z or J and J vaccines.

https://www.chop.edu/news/flipping-gene-switch-may-reverse-sickle-cell-disease

From the Inquirer and CHOP news, an article about a study published in NEJM about new studies done using the CRISPR gene editing technology to reverse the effects of sickle cell disease.  The disease affects millions of mostly Black people. The only cure right now is a bone marrow transplant from a closely-matched donor without the disease. This is a cool technology. You see, we have an immature form of the Hemoglobin molecule which has a greater ability to bind oxygen than the molecule which takes over from it at birth, which is the mature form. The CRISPR gene editing doesn't let this switchover take place, so people with the defective Hemoglobin still make the fetal version, which will counteract the effects of the disease.

https://www.nytimes.com/2020/12/18/opinion/coronavirus-vaccine-doses.html

This is an op-ed piece about the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines and whether these two-dose vaccines would provide sufficient protection if delivered in a single shot, meaning 1/2 of the strength that is recommended. Has it been investigated whether a single dose mightn't provide sufficient protection. Since this study has not been done and isn't planned, it should be done. This is the recommendation of the authors of the article, one of whom is Assistant Professor of Epidemiology at Harvard School of Public Health. Volunteers from low-risk populations should be tested first. Information about the immune systems of older people suggests that they do not respond as strongly to the single dose, indicating that the single dose trial should be done on lower-risk populations. If a single dose is somewhat less efficient than two doses, the authors suggest that we remember that we would have been thrilled to have a vaccine even less effective than the single dose numbers we are presented with. I was supposed to have the Heptavax series of immunizations (3), as a person working with blood products. I had two severe reactions (fever, inflammation at site) and decided to try to circumvent the third by getting an antibody titer. I had sufficient immunity to Hepatitis virus to be allowed to skip it.

https://www.nytimes.com/2020/12/17/nyregion/nurses-coronavirus-new-york.html?searchResultPosition=3

This is a frightening article about the reuse of N95 masks in NY state, some of which are reprocessed, decontaminated and reused 20 or more times, beyond what they are certified for (5 uses).  After an industrial hygiene firm in Putnam County examined the masks, the state nurses' union filed a complaint that their lives are being put in jeopardy. The materials that are used to decontaminate them also affect the mask's fit, further jeopardizing the nurses' safety against the virus.