Novel Coronavirus

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PilgrimsProgress said:
Ah well, there are compensations..... I may not be so keen on animals, but I'm rather fond of a lot of humans. :)
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Do you like birds? Many humans find birds more human-like than many other critters. They're devoted, they often talk, they're "sensitive". There's a green parrot, Cheeky, who comes into our store with his dad/owner, most days. Dad is in his 80s, I'd guess. Cheeky makes an odd, vaguely-electronic sounding chirp when he's in the store. Only makes that sound here, nowhere else. Figured out a couple of months ago that Cheeky is trying to mimic the beep of all the scanners scanning bar codes at each cash.
 
Hear, O Israel:
“After Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announced last Saturday that authorities will tap the country’s ‘counter-terror’ technology and systems to combat the ‘invisible enemy’ of Covid-19, Israeli media is now reporting the government is actually considering the ‘total suspension of individual freedom.’”
 
Waterfall said:
I have a question:
If they isolated the Coronavirus two months ago and most vaccines use dead virus', what's the hold up for the vaccine?

Also, how long does it take to figure out if you've had the virus, whether you've got a lifetime immunity or any kind of immunity and won't need a vaccine? I realize there are reports that some have been reinfected, but was it from the same strain?
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I do not know the protocols for developing vaccines, it wasn't something that was ever covered. Here are a few things that need to be done:

  • We need to get enough of an antigen - that's the protein that our immune systems react to. This means either a) replicating the virus (and this is not like just making cultures, as viruses do not produce on their own, their require cells to do this - this is where the egg aspect of flu vaccines comes in) and then either weakening the virus or rendering it completely inactive so that we aren't making people sick with COVID-19 or b) the reverse, weaken the virus and have the weakened virus replicated or else mass produce the antigen somehow apart from the virus

  • Get that antigen into a solution and ensure it's safe to inject people with (or in the case of a live virus vaccine, administer some other way, like how the Flu Mist is done)

  • Ensure that it actually results in immunity and figuring out the dosing and if 1 dose is sufficient.
 
ChemGal said:
Ensure that it actually results in immunity and figuring out the dosing and if 1 dose is sufficient.
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Which means, to be clear, giving a sample group a dose of the vaccine and then tracking them over a period of time to see if they become infected at a lower rate (or 0) than the general population. And seeing if their titres remain at a protective level over time. If the latter drops, then you start looking at needing a second dose.

IOW, when people talk about it being 12-18 months to get a vaccine, that's not R&D, that's mostly testing. The R&D is well underway and one vaccine has already begun safety testing. It's the testing for efficacy and dosing that's going to take time.
 
Mendalla said:
Which means, to be clear, giving a sample group a dose of the vaccine and then tracking them over a period of time to see if they become infected at a lower rate (or 0) than the general population. And seeing if their titres remain at a protective level over time. If the latter drops, then you start looking at needing a second dose.

IOW, when people talk about it being 12-18 months to get a vaccine, that's not R&D, that's mostly testing. The R&D is well underway and one vaccine has already begun safety testing. It's the testing for efficacy and dosing that's going to take time.
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Right, some are already being used in trials. Producing enough for everyone would take a bit of time too, but is a small period compared to the trials.
 
Because some of us see this as necessary doesn't mean we will be happy if it continues for a long time. I sure won't be. What choice do I have though?
 
Okay. For now we have to. At the end of this I hope the human race really reassesses priorities and how we do things in the future. This cannot become a new normal for a long time, and we have to remember that we are human beings - human beings need other human beings - we cannot be isolated for too long at once - we need human contact - and authoritarianism for any old reason they tell us is still not acceptable.
 
I don't see this as true authoritarianism. It's more like crowd control. Now, if it continues past the time it is needed, it will be authoritarianism to me.
 
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