I was busy on 28 April, sorry.
I’m also getting bored with articles/papers which say:
- OMG look at how well vaccines work!
- People in a group known to have poor immune responses to vaccines have poor response to just one dose of COVID vax, and should be prioritized for second doses!
- Here’s yet another vaccine candidate that’s passed another random clinical trial milestone.
- OMG brand X vaccine isn’t going to work against VOC Y!!!1!!! and the inevitable followup of Actually, brand X vaccine works just fine against VOC Y.
- OMG somebody got the vaccine and then they died!!!
And I am waaaay over the “OMG I didn’t believe in COVID and I got it and it sucks so please you don’t be like me, wear your mask!”
Vaccines
Here’s a more in-depth article about why the Brazilian regulatory agency rejected the Sputnik V vaccine.
Moderna says that they are going to significantly boost their production. Here’s hoping they are correct this time.
The US is going to share 60M doses of AstraZeneca with the rest of the world. Canada might get some of it, but honestly the optics are way better for the US to give it to India or Brazil.
This article says that Canada expects a million more doses of Moderna in May, yay!
Variants
I frequently hear people worry about P.1, the “Brazilian variant” being resistant to vaccines. Don’t be. More evidence: they vaccinated almost all the adults in town of Serrana, Brazil, with mRNA vax, and their case rate plummeted. The mRNAs work JUST FINE against P.1.
Schools
There’s an article in Science which says that although schools are usually somewhat COVID-dangerous, if you do the right mitigation measures, they are not. I think BC is doing a good job with mitigation measures — there hasn’t ever been a noticeable increase in overall cases when classes resume.
Vaccine Manufacturing
This is a nice, somewhat long, article on how the Pfizer vax is made.