The news about the coronavirus and various treatments and vaccines was rather dour yesterday. Luckily, as individuals we can hear and understand that knowledge and use it to inform our actions to, as best as possible, protect ourselves and our loved ones.

Variants and Mutants

• It appears that the British variant is not only more transmissible, but also potentially more deadly.
• The Brazilian mutant has been found in a patient in Minnesota.
• There appears to be a “home grown” variant in California that may have contributed to the large explosion of cases and deaths.
• The South African mutant appears to be afforded neutralizing effects by the Moderna vaccine, but potentially not by the Pfizer one. Moderna is developing a booster just in case.

Vaccines

• AstraZeneca is going to announce to the EU version of the FDA that it is only 10% effective for people aged 65 and over, meaning it will not be approved in the US.
• Merck has ceased work on its two vaccines as they are not showing efficacy in Phase 1 and 2 trials.
• Johnson & Johnson may announce that they are seeking FDA Emergency Use Authorization in 2 – 3 weeks.
• Novavax is about a third of the way to their Phase 3 target enrollments, and their protocol called for a large number of people over age 65. They are starting to see requests from participants to be unblinded, and the rate is double amoungst those over age 65.
• West Virginia has the highest percentage of vaccinated population, mostly because they are NOT using chain pharmacies for distribution. When we look at roll out percentages, comparing State, hospital and pharmacy penetration, pharmacies outside of West Virginia do the worst.

What does it mean when something is “More Transmissible”?

I get this question a lot, and I am going to explain it in simple, non-medical terms. Think of someone smoking a cigarette, and of “transmissible” as how much smoke you can smell.

If you are outside on a windy day, you may smell a whiff of smoke from a single cigarette. The further away it is, the less you smell. You may not even see the smoke itself to smell it. Continue Reading...