Vaccine dreams have stoked both hospital doctors’ and laboratory scientists’ hopes for COVID-19 prevention.  Day by day, we deal with disheartening numbers:  Here in Florida we watched the infection reach over 15,000 new cases last Sunday.  Yesterday morning, the United States awoke to 3,304,942 cases and 134,205 deaths.

 

Vaccine Dreams:  Can We Blunt the Numbers?

Not only lab work, but meticulous records and research go into our vaccine dreams.

 

The only reassurance we get is that some cases who test positive are not very sick. And we at FLASS sought cold comfort in the fact that, naturally, the more we test, the more asymptomatic people and light cases we find.

Of course, seeing the national death total rise by another 1,000 cases between last Friday and this Monday, still hangs over the hearts of doctors, nurses and families alike.  No wonder we are all haunted by dreams of a vaccine.

Vaccine Dreams Might Come

True:  Big News on Latest COVID-19 Vaccine

 

Then, yesterday, 7-14-20, Tuesday news of initial success with our March vaccine dreams came like a sunrise in the medical community. Word of success in a vaccine trial broke over television.  “Experimental COVID-19 vaccine safe, generates immune response.”

And we saw the shining face of Dr. Fauci, the U.S. government’s top infectious disease expert, say, “No matter how you slice this, this is good news,”   

 

Beyond Headlines:  Taking a look at The Latest Vaccine News

 

So, beyond simple headlines, FLASS breaks down this good news about the latest vaccine trial studies for you.  Get

Work is continuing day and night around the globe, to produce vaccines and medicines for COVID-19.

ready for some scientific details in this week’s reading. (And some hope for the end of this coronavirus nightmare…)

Who is Conducting the Vaccine Trial?

 

The big news came from the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID.) And certainly, they are part of our National Institutes of Health. Firstly, researchers at NIAID have joined forces with Moderna, Inc. of Cambridge, Massachusetts. Thus, the vaccine is manufactured by Moderna.

The vaccine has the non-descript name of “mRNA-1273.”  However, the next question is what does it do?  Certainly, the scientists designed it to “induce neutralizing antibodies directed at a portion of the coronavirus “spike” protein…”This is important because the virus uses that spike, in many of them “to bind with and enter [your] human cells.” 

To clarify that into a simpler, if more combative image for you:  Think of the vaccine as having the power to stimulate your body to make napalm to burn off the spikes of the virus. Then the antibodies can absorb and destroy harmless little spheres of the virus that remain.

 

Vaccine Dreams Shared by Brave Volunteers

 

Lisa A. Jackson, M.D., MPH, of Kaiser Permanente Washington Health Research Institute in Seattle has led these initial trials. Meanwhile, the first participants began their brave journey March 16.

Reporting on the Vaccine by the Numbers:  Procedure in the Moderna Vaccine Trial

The first 45 participants are age 18-55. Previously, they enrolled in their testing group in Seattle and Emory University in

The world is waiting for research scientists strive to make our vaccine dreams come true.

Atlanta.

The Vaccine Testing Process:

 

  1. Three groups of 15 participants received two intramuscular injections.
  2. The scientists  injected each set of 15 volunteers 28 days apart.
  3. Participants received either 25, 100 or 250 micrograms (mcg) of the experimental vaccine.
  4. All the volunteers received one injection; 42 received both scheduled injections.

 

COVID-19 Vaccine Trials: Yield Best Results

Moreover, the vaccine provided a hoped-for immune boost. Those early volunteers developed the neutralizing antibodies in their bloodstream. Now certainly, those molecules are key to blocking the infection.  (Okay, to clarify, we called them napalm.) Additionally, these antibodies grew up to the levels “comparable to those found in people who survived COVID-19. This was reported by the research team in the New England Journal of Medicine.”

 

Vaccine Dreams:  Helping the Body Help Itself

 

Dr. Lisa Jackson of the Kaiser Permnente Washington Research Institute in Seattle led the study.  Concerning those powerful antibodies, she stated, “This is an essential building block that is needed to move forward with the trials that could actually determine whether the vaccine does protect against infection.”  

Very Few Side-Effects from the Injections

 

More good news came in the form of very few side-effects from taking the vaccine.  Half of the volunteers reported flu-

Research could soon yield vaccines and new drug therapies for COVID-19.

like symptoms for about a day. You know those symptoms. They include fatigue, headache, chills, fever and pain at the injection site.

 

Vaccine Dreams for the Near Future

 

The clock keeps ticking on our vaccine dreams of getting a successful shot developed by the end of the year. This vaccine by Moderna Inc. starts its most critical phase about July 27.  Then, it will involve a 30,000-person study. Most importantly, only that final phase can “prove if the shots really are strong enough to protect against the coronavirus.”

 

Vaccine Dreams of More than One Answer

 

“mRNA-1273″ is not the only one of our vaccine dreams. We have many other large studies of vaccines in various stages. “The government plans similar large studies of the Oxford candidate and another by Johnson & Johnson; separately.” For example, Pfizer Inc. is planning its own huge study.

Additionally, Dr. Fauci, the familiar Director of NIH’s National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases made this statement. “People think this is a race for one winner. Me, I’m cheering every one of them on.”  Additionally, he added, “We need multiple vaccines. We need vaccines for the world, not only for our own country.”

Likewise, research is not the only science at work for us in this respect. Manufacturers and investors are at work day and night. As AOL stated, “Around the world, governments are investing in stockpiles of hundreds of millions of doses of the different candidates…”

Now, this means if any vaccines work, the money and the manufacturing are geared up for speedily starting inoculations. (See the previous FLASS article on vaccines at this convenient resource. )

For Whom Roses Are Due

 

We honor both research scientists and medical professionals who join forces to defeat COVID-19

Thus, from our earliest indications, our vaccine dreams are good dreams.They are grounded in the reality of successful research studies and scientific trials like the above.

Make no mistake; FLASS believes the medical researchers and the volunteers that work with the vaccines are heroes.

Therefore, they are to be commended, just like the doctors and medical professionals working with patients in our hospitals.

And just like the citizen who washes his hands, wears his mask, and keeps his social distance. We share the same COVID-19 vaccine dreams for Miami, Orlando, Florida, the US and the planet earth.