- Joined
- Apr 10, 2001
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I said something like this earlier, but getting a safe vaccine less than a year after the virus was identified is probably the greatest scientific accomplishment since the Apollo program.
There's still the matter of getting it distributed though, and given the dysfunction in multiple levels of American society, that's not a sure bet. But I'll be on the alert for my turn.
Yes and no. Messenger RNA vax (including their LNP capsid) were available (zika, flu, rabies, though not FDA approved) prior to COVID. The speed with which mRNA was applied to sars-cov-2 is impressive, and the $9B the U.S. govt. threw at the effort is akin to the Apollo program.
That being said, 25% of all vaccines manufactured last year were thrown away because they degraded during transit due to failures in the cold chain, and these "regular vaccines" typically require 1F. Moderna and Pfizer's -4F and -94F, respectively, that's a whole other kettle of fish.
Jabs will happen, but in the field the thinking is that they'll happen for gen pop later than what's on the drawing board.