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Vaccinations weren't an option last May, which is when Musk was saying Covid would be gone by, not this May.

by p_j_w 5y ago

fastball 5y ago
Vaccinations could've been an option last May. The mRNA vaccines were designed days after receiving a full genetic sequence of the virus (in January). Those are the same two vaccines we are currently injecting people with – we just spent a long time on trials/approval/ramping up production. Far longer than necessary.
- tzs 5y ago
  Previous attempts at mRNA vaccines had failed, due to the side effects being too serious. There was no reason to believe in May 2020 that a COVID mRNA vaccine would be any different than all the previous mRNA failures.
  - johnisgood 5y ago
    Can I have sources to that claim? I would like to use it.
    - jcranmer 5y ago
      https://blogs.sciencemag.org/pipeline/archives/2020/04/15/coronavirus-vaccine-prospects https://blogs.sciencemag.org/pipeline/archives/2020/04/15/co... is a post from April of last year detailing the different types of vaccines, which does mention some of the issues mRNA vaccines have had in the past. I think there's a fuller discussion of mRNA somewhere on that blog, but the gist of it is "we've been trying this for about a decade and we might finally have all the kinks worked out."
      - johnisgood 5y ago
        Thank you, will give it a read.
    - tzs 5y ago
      My statement wasn't quite accurate. It was previous attempts at mRNA treatments that failed due to too many bad effects from the delivery mechanism. Some companies gave up on mRNA then. Those that wanted to continue switched to trying to develop mRNA vaccines instead of mRNA treatments for non-viral conditions. Vaccines would require lower doses, which they hoped would reduce the problems with side effects. Experimental mRNA vaccines were developed for a few viral diseases, but not had gotten through trials and been licensed for use in humans. Some links to sources are in the history section of the Wikipedia article on RNA vaccines: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/RNA_vaccine#History https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/RNA_vaccine#History

Vaccinations weren't an option last May, which is when Musk was saying Covid would be gone by, not this May.

by p_j_w 5y ago

Vaccinations weren't an option last May, which is when Musk was saying Covid would be gone by, not this May.

Vaccinations could've been an option last May. The mRNA vaccines were designed days after receiving a full genetic sequence of the virus (in January). Those are the same two vaccines we are currently injecting people with – we just spent a long time on trials/approval/ramping up production. Far longer than necessary.

tzs 5y ago
Previous attempts at mRNA vaccines had failed, due to the side effects being too serious. There was no reason to believe in May 2020 that a COVID mRNA vaccine would be any different than all the previous mRNA failures.
- johnisgood 5y ago
  Can I have sources to that claim? I would like to use it.
  - jcranmer 5y ago
    https://blogs.sciencemag.org/pipeline/archives/2020/04/15/coronavirus-vaccine-prospects https://blogs.sciencemag.org/pipeline/archives/2020/04/15/co... is a post from April of last year detailing the different types of vaccines, which does mention some of the issues mRNA vaccines have had in the past. I think there's a fuller discussion of mRNA somewhere on that blog, but the gist of it is "we've been trying this for about a decade and we might finally have all the kinks worked out."
    - johnisgood 5y ago
      Thank you, will give it a read.
  - tzs 5y ago
    My statement wasn't quite accurate. It was previous attempts at mRNA treatments that failed due to too many bad effects from the delivery mechanism. Some companies gave up on mRNA then. Those that wanted to continue switched to trying to develop mRNA vaccines instead of mRNA treatments for non-viral conditions. Vaccines would require lower doses, which they hoped would reduce the problems with side effects. Experimental mRNA vaccines were developed for a few viral diseases, but not had gotten through trials and been licensed for use in humans. Some links to sources are in the history section of the Wikipedia article on RNA vaccines: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/RNA_vaccine#History https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/RNA_vaccine#History