Vaccines
Novavax announced that they have finished their Phase 3 trials with a 90.4% efficacy rate (with two-thirds of the infections being the Alpha strain). Their reported rate of “mild” (i.e. “only” make you uncomfortable) side effects was lower than any of the other Canadian-approved vaxes.
Novavax says they will seek FDA approval “in Q3”, which could mean July, could mean September.
Novavax should be cheap, it’s easier to store, has world-class effectiveness and lower side effects, and they just finished Phase1 trials of a version which is bundled with a influenza vax, so one-stop-shopping for your flu and COVID shot!
This is great news.
I keep forgetting: someone leaked the EU price list for vaccines:
Yep, vax protection lasts for (at least) a year, as this paper affirms.
This article says that 88% of Canadian adults want a vax. 🇨🇦 ❤️ 🇨🇦
Transmission
This paper has a case study of four people in Switzerland who caught COVID indoors in a courtroom and were >1.5m away from the sick person. They took their masks off once they were seated and basically stayed there for three hours.
Recommended Reading
This article talks about the history of mixing vaccines.
Not COVID, but science! This article (audio if you don’t pay for it) is about graphs and is interesting and entertaining.
This article talks about what the pandemic has meant to all of us going through it, and articulates it well.
This article describes three elements of the long-lasting immune system: cytotoxic T cells, antibodies, and helper T cells. It’s highly technical, but if you’re into that kind of thing it might be interesting.