Moderna's Vaccine Is 94.5% Effective!

[BFritz21]

I had always said that a vaccine would come out after the election, but I started to have my doubts as the updates on one always seemed to hit a roadblock, and I'll admit that I didn't expect one to come this soon, much-less two, because it would be too obvious, but now Moderna's vaccine is proving to be 94.5% effective!

Quote:The Moderna vaccine is 94.5% effective against coronavirus, according to early data released Monday by the company, making it the second vaccine in the United States to have a stunningly high success rate.

"These are obviously very exciting results," said Dr. Anthony Fauci, the nation's top infectious disease doctor. "It's just as good as it gets -- 94.5% is truly outstanding."
Moderna heard its results on a call Sunday afternoon with members of the Data Safety and Monitoring Board, an independent panel analyzing Moderna's clinical trial data.

"It was one of the greatest moments in my life and my career. It is absolutely amazing to be able to develop this vaccine and see the ability to prevent symptomatic disease with such high efficacy," said Dr. Tal Zacks, Moderna's chief medical officer.
Vaccinations could begin in the second half of December, Fauci said. Vaccinations are expected to begin with high-risk groups and to be available for the rest of the population next spring.

I'm obviously high-risk, so I'll be able to get it soon, and the market took off because of the news!

You might hate Trump. but he did kick Operation Warp Speed into gear and it's looking like it could pay dividends!

Quote:Last week, Pfizer announced that early data show its vaccine is more than 90% effective against the disease.
In Moderna's trial, 15,000 study participants were given a placebo, which is a shot of saline that has no effect. Over several months, 90 of them developed Covid-19, with 11 developing severe forms of the disease.
Another 15,000 participants were given the vaccine, and only five of them developed Covid-19. None of the five became severely ill.

The company says its vaccine did not have any serious side effects. A small percentage of those who received it experienced symptoms such as body aches and headaches.
Moderna plans to apply to the US Food and Drug Administration for authorization of its vaccine soon after it accumulates more safety data later this month.

Fauci says he expects the first Covid-19 vaccinations to begin "towards the latter part of December, rather than the early part of December."
Initially, there won't be enough vaccine for everyone. The highest priority groups, which include health care workers, the elderly, and people with underlying medical conditions, will get the vaccine first.
"I think that everybody else will start to get vaccinated towards the end of April," Fauci said. "And that will go into May, June, July. It will take a couple of months to do."

In December at all is AMAZING considering I didn't think we'd have one until at least Christmas, if ever!

Like I said, the timing is VERY QUESTIONABLE, but who cares because life might be semi-normal in the foreseeable future!

CHEERS!

[BmorePat87]

This is great news. Operation Warp Speed could have been more successful, however, if we did not choose to isolate ourselves from the work being done by China, WHO, and other groups. I know the goal was getting doses out by the end of the year, but that won't be happening.

The longer Trump refuses to accept that he lost and sabotages the transition, the longer it will take to get those doses out during the Biden administration. That is a concern of mine right now.

With 1000 people dying every day, I hope Trump does the right thing. Concede and partner with Biden to get these vaccines out to the public.

[BFritz21]

(11-16-2020, 03:01 PM)BmorePat87 Wrote: This is great news. Operation Warp Speed could have been more successful, however, if we did not choose to isolate ourselves from the work being done by China, WHO, and other groups. I know the goal was getting doses out by the end of the year, but that won't be happening.

The longer Trump refuses to accept that he lost and sabotages the transition, the longer it will take to get those doses out during the Biden administration. That is a concern of mine right now.

With 1000 people dying every day, I hope Trump does the right thing. Concede and partner with Biden to get these vaccines out to the public.

With how China lied and covered everything up, I'm not too upset about leaving them out or not trusting them to do what's right.  

As far as other countries, we're far more advanced and it looks like we're beating everyone to the punch, so I'm not sure how collaborating with other countries could have helped, especially since other countries may not have the same safety standards as we do.

I don't think Trump losing will have any impact on it because, if anything, he'll want to set-up getting the vaccine out as soon as possible, even if he just organizes it and it doesn't happen until the Biden administration, because then he'll still at least get credit for it.

Honestly asking if you think it's a coincidence that two came out right after the election when there were doubts if one would ever even be found?

[BmorePat87]

(11-16-2020, 03:14 PM)BFritz21 Wrote: With how China lied and covered everything up, I'm not too upset about leaving them out or not trusting them to do what's right.  

As far as other countries, we're far more advanced and it looks like we're beating everyone to the punch, so I'm not sure how collaborating with other countries could have helped, especially since other countries may not have the same safety standards as we do.

I don't think Trump losing will have any impact on it because, if anything, he'll want to set-up getting the vaccine out as soon as possible, even if he just organizes it and it doesn't happen until the Biden administration, because then he'll still at least get credit for it.

Honestly asking if you think it's a coincidence that two came out right after the election when there were doubts if one would ever even be found?

Pfizer partnered with a German company and was one of the first to develop a vaccine without US money. China has 4 in phase 3 trials. I think it's safe to say that we are not blowing other nations out of the water here. International cooperation during a pandemic is a big deal.

I don't think it's a coincidence, but with regards to delays, I will point out that a former Chief of Staff for W Bush pointed to the 9/11 Commission that said that delays in the Bush transition contributed to agencies being unprepared for 9/11. 

[Benton]

(11-16-2020, 03:14 PM)BFritz21 Wrote: With how China lied and covered everything up, I'm not too upset about leaving them out or not trusting them to do what's right.  

As far as other countries, we're far more advanced and it looks like we're beating everyone to the punch, so I'm not sure how collaborating with other countries could have helped, especially since other countries may not have the same safety standards as we do.

I don't think Trump losing will have any impact on it because, if anything, he'll want to set-up getting the vaccine out as soon as possible, even if he just organizes it and it doesn't happen until the Biden administration, because then he'll still at least get credit for it.

Honestly asking if you think it's a coincidence that two came out right after the election when there were doubts if one would ever even be found?

I was listening to Beck this weekend who was adamant the Pfizer announcement was political. So I checked around and, from what I understand, the announcement had more to do with the wording in the Emergency Use Authorization. The company knew it's effectiveness in October, but because of the EUA, couldn't file earlier than two months after hitting the 50% threshold. The White House tried to block the guidelines (I think to expedite the process) but I don't think it was successful.

From what I read, though, Pfizer was one of the companies that did not participate in Warp Speed and did not accept federal funding directly related to the trials. They did work with the FDA to meet their less restricted guidelines.

[GMDino]

(11-16-2020, 03:45 PM)Benton Wrote: I was listening to Beck this weekend who was adamant the Pfizer announcement was political. So I checked around and, from what I understand, the announcement had more to do with the wording in the Emergency Use Authorization. The company knew it's effectiveness in October, but because of the EUA, couldn't file earlier than two months after hitting the 50% threshold. The White House tried to block the guidelines (I think to expedite the process) but I don't think it was successful.

From what I read, though, Pfizer was one of the companies that did not participate in Warp Speed and did not accept federal funding directly related to the trials. They did work with the FDA to meet their less restricted guidelines.

Correct.  Pfizer did get an order for the vaccine if they made one but did not use Warp Speed funds in their research.

[NATI BENGALS]

I do give trump credit. The way he has played it down and allowed the virus to spread like wild fire by leading the charge with maskless rallies and even super spreader events at the White House. The total rampant spread of COVID 45 will probably result in more people getting the vaccine than if we had a responsible leader and controlled this thing. So I guess that is a bonus.


I give him zero credit for the vaccine.

[Au165]

So both vaccines use a new approach to vaccines called mRNA. It doesn't actually change your genetic makeup, however, it does attach to it creating a different profile to train your body to attack COVID. The issue with both of these vaccines is we have absolutely NO IDEA what the long term effects will be. This is something we have never done before to vaccinate people and I do wonder if it is getting the same long term considerations because of the perceived short term gains from getting it out. The other issue here is we don't know what the long term efficacy is, meaning we don't know how long it'll work before potentially needing another round.

I honestly don't know if I would take it if offered in the first year. I am not an Anti-VAX person but I think the lack of long term study on the way we are approaching this should be considered here.

[GMDino]

(11-17-2020, 09:23 AM)Au165 Wrote: So both vaccines use a new approach to vaccines called mRNA. It doesn't actually change your genetic makeup, however, it does attach to it creating a different profile to train your body to attack COVID. The issue with both of these vaccines is we have absolutely NO IDEA what the long term effects will be. This is something we have never done before to vaccinate people and I do wonder if it is getting the same long term considerations because of the perceived short term gains from getting it out. The other issue here is we don't know what the long term efficacy is, meaning we don't know how long it'll work before potentially needing another round.

I honestly don't know if I would take it if offered in the first year. I am not an Anti-VAX person but I think the lack of long term study on the way we are approaching this should be considered here.

This technology was something I saw on an episode of 60 Minutes last year.

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/harvard-geneticist-george-church-goal-to-protect-humans-from-viruses-genetic-diseases-and-aging-60-minutes-2019-12-08/

It would be, obviously, an AMAZING breakthrough.

[Au165]

(11-17-2020, 09:53 AM)GMDino Wrote: This technology was something I saw on an episode of 60 Minutes last year.

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/harvard-geneticist-george-church-goal-to-protect-humans-from-viruses-genetic-diseases-and-aging-60-minutes-2019-12-08/

It would be, obviously, an AMAZING breakthrough.

Honestly, it feels like the start of I AM LEGEND.

Joking aside, it has been talked about for a while as the next great advancement in vaccines. I still worry that we don't know what kind of long term consequences may come due to it and we are about to jump in with both feet and subject potentially the whole population to it.

[GMDino]

(11-17-2020, 10:05 AM)Au165 Wrote: Honestly, it feels like the start of I AM LEGEND.

Joking aside, it has been talked about for a while as the next great advancement in vaccines. I still worry that we don't know what kind of long term consequences may come due to it and we are about to jump in with both feet and subject potentially the whole population to it.

This was something I heard on the news last night about the vaccines too.  It is hard to say what that one in a million side effect will be until one million doses have been given.

I said yesterday that they are giving it to the doctors and nurses and frontline workers first...what if we find out it makes your eyes fall out (Simpson's reference) and we don't have any doctors or nurses or frontline workers!  

I won't be one of the first groups okayed to get it anyway so we'll see what it brings.  It still gives me hope.

[SteelCitySouth]

(11-16-2020, 03:14 PM)BFritz21 Wrote: With how China lied and covered everything up

This is a benchmark when discussing other groups while praising Trump?  Seems a bit ironic.

[NATI BENGALS]

(11-17-2020, 09:23 AM)Au165 Wrote: So both vaccines use a new approach to vaccines called mRNA. It doesn't actually change your genetic makeup, however, it does attach to it creating a different profile to train your body to attack COVID. The issue with both of these vaccines is we have absolutely NO IDEA what the long term effects will be. This is something we have never done before to vaccinate people and I do wonder if it is getting the same long term considerations because of the perceived short term gains from getting it out. The other issue here is we don't know what the long term efficacy is, meaning we don't know how long it'll work before potentially needing another round.

I honestly don't know if I would take it if offered in the first year. I am not an Anti-VAX person but I think the lack of long term study on the way we are approaching this should be considered here.

Damn. Haven’t read into it which is a shame on my science book thumping ways.

Will we be able to get rid of Non-GMO labels yet?

Will we be able to eliminate the virus with crispr babies?

So it doesn’t change genetic makeup but it does attach to it.? Isn’t that changing it? I should be reading and not asking but I can’t make it too far past Trump tweets before I pick up a bottle anymore

[Au165]

(11-18-2020, 12:55 AM)NATI BENGALS Wrote: Damn. Haven’t read into it which is a shame on my science book thumping ways.

Will we be able to get rid of Non-GMO labels yet?

Will we be able to eliminate the virus with crispr babies?

So it doesn’t change genetic makeup but it does attach to it.? Isn’t that changing it? I should be reading and not asking but I can’t make it too far past Trump tweets before I pick up a bottle anymore

The way I read it is that DNA is the "code" of your body and RNA is the conversion of code to actionable proteins. We aren't changing the code (DNA) but rather injecting instructions that aren't already in the code to produce proteins that would stimulate an immune response against COVID. This mRNA doesn't integrate into our genes though so like I said it isn't technically changing our genetic makeup. 

I am not a biologist though so I may have completely missed the point here haha.