4 ms·
As a lay person, I found this to be a very informative article. One thing I didn't see mentioned was a recent article that caught my attention - apparently, to
by LyndsySimon 7y ago
As a lay person, I found this to be a very informative article.
One thing I didn't see mentioned was a recent article that caught my attention - apparently, tobacco may be used as means of production for a potential vaccine [0].
Given that the linked article was published on April 1, I initially thought it to be satire. Upon further consideration, though, it not only seems to be genuine but it makes sense: tobacco is likely one of the best understood plants from a genetic standpoint, with a long history of successful genetic modification using both traditional and modern approaches. It's certainly one of the best understood that also has large-scale production capabilities, and I would imagine that the tobacco industry has more incentive than most to seek the positive PR that this could bring.
Finally, setting aside the greater political context, it seems to me that the FDA under the Trump administration is more flexible and risk-tolerant than any point in my lifetime (and perhaps in living memory). There are certainly many challenges that will have to be overcome before we get to the point that we're able to widely roll out an effective vaccine, but I strongly suspect that this flexibility will result in a speed of development and approval that will surprise many of us. Of course, that speed will come with associated risks, but that's just the nature of things.
I would not be surprised to see widespread voluntary human testing of promising vaccine candidates in the next six months - perhaps even sooner if a promising candidate ends up being derived from the past few years' work in creating a vaccine for SARS-CoV-1.
0: https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-8175855/BAT-claims-Covid-19-vaccine-breakthrough-using-tobacco-plants.html https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-8175855/BAT-claims-...
- avgDev 7y agoI am really concerned about the fact that the FDA is trying to fast track stuff. I just want to offer a perspective of why this is dangerous. We are having some serious issues with flouroquinolone antibiotics. The side-effects of the medication are insane and under-reported. 9 years ago I was given the antibiotic for an infection, my body went into shock, I was released the next day with some odd neurological issues. None of it reported to the FDA, few months later I got tendon pain. I go to mayo clinic, they disagree the antibiotic caused it. Seen 30+ physicians in the span of 2 years, 2 agreed that it is possible. One of them said to wait it out, and refused to actually put it in my chart. The antibiotics carry a 'black label' and clearly state side effects may occur up to 1 year. I reported it to the FDA, then I found groups of people suffering from chronic fatigue, tendon raptures, weird neurological symptoms, some had diagnosis of 'fibromyalgia', some had chronic tendinitis, yet after reviewing their medical information they found they took a flouroquinolone antibiotic but nobody ever even suggested that it could be that. This bring me to Tamiflu fiasco. Governments have spent billions of dollars to purchase Tamiflu to fight the flu. Later reports came out about issues with the studies, the maker picking positive studies and withholding neutral or negative information. It has not proven much better than the drugs we already use to treat the flu. Fast tracking a medication can have terrible results, cost billions of dollars, and cripple hundreds of people. Doing any scientific research with panic in the back of your mind and high pressure from politicians and people is dangerous IMO. Especially, in a profit driven healthcare system.
- xyzzyz 7y agoFast tracking a medication can have terrible results, cost billions of dollars, and cripple hundreds of people. All of this is true, and yet in our current situation, not fast tracking can have even worse results, cost trillions of dollars and kill millions of people.
- avgDev 7y agoIt is a difficult situation, but the cure should not be worse than the disease. I just offered my perspective. I am not an expert in medical research, and hope that qualified people can do their jobs and find a safe treatment/vaccine. However, I am scared that people that say 'No' will be silenced or removed, kind of like people in Theranos, who were experts in their fields.
- teh_infallible 7y agoLook up what happened in India with the polio vaccine..
- avgDev 7y agoWoah, I just looked it up....I have never heard of this. According to a study 490,000 cases of paralysis were caused by the oral polio vaccine from 2000-2017. Wow.
- sjg007 7y agoYeah this is a known thing. That's why we don't vaccinate against polio but try to keep it out of the country.
- IdoRA 7y agoThe US still vaccinates against polio, but we don’t use the OPV anymore: https://www.cdc.gov/vaccines/vpd/polio/index.html https://www.cdc.gov/vaccines/vpd/polio/index.html The OPV is still used in the few countries where there is polio in the wild because it does have advantages over the IPV.