5 ms·

Neither names are really intended to be the "brand" of the vaccine. That said, I don't think Comirnaty is really much better.

orra 5y ago
No, I don't think Comirnaty is any better! I am however relatively partial to Spikevax, aka Moderna: at least Spikevax is easily pronounceable. I suppose you mean the vaccine names are mainly useful for regulatory purposes, because the general population will continue to name the vaccines after the manufacturer or researchers?
- palae 5y ago
  As a native French speaker, I would say Comirnaty is actually easier to pronounce than Spikevax, and I suspect it might be similar in other Romance languages.
  - orra 5y ago
    Intéressant. Sorry, I was being pretty anglocentric.
    - palae 5y ago
      Pas de problème ;) Now I'm thinking about it, finding a name that is easily pronounced in many languages is probably a fun but not that trivial task.
      - selcuka 5y ago
        CoronaVac (by Sinovac) sounds pretty accent-agnostic.
mattkrause 5y ago
Specifically, ChAdOx1 is the vector, a platform for making vaccines: there are vaccine candidates using it for TB, MERS, Zika, flu, and a bunch of other things (see here: https://clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/results?cond=&term=ChAdOx1&cntry=&state=&city=&dist= https://clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/results?cond=&term=ChAdOx1&cn...) In more normal times, most people outside of R&D would never encounter the name.
- orra 5y ago
  Exciting that they're using it as a platform to develop other vaccines. But I still maintain the official names are ridiculous. “Vaxzevria” is the trademark used by AstraZeneca in the EU. (As you say, not ChAdOx1.) And yes, the general population end up seeing Vaxzevria, on their vaccine information forms, and online at https://www.ema.europa.eu/en/medicines/human/EPAR/vaxzevria-previously-covid-19-vaccine-astrazeneca https://www.ema.europa.eu/en/medicines/human/EPAR/vaxzevria-...
  - waterhouse 5y ago
    Someone on Twitter says: "Galaxy brain take: Pfizer intentionally picked a terrible & unpronounceable brand name because it wants people to keep calling it "the Pfizer vaccine"". (I personally will just pronounce it as "Moriarty", that being the closest recognizable name.)
    - mattkrause 5y ago
      That seems....very plausible. For other drugs, an amazing amount of effort is devoted to finding something that a) sounds "promising" but b) without making legally-untenable promises. The name `Viagra`, famously, is supposed to evoke ideas of vigor and Niagra (Falls). Pfizer had some trouble with Champix (varenicline), which some regulators thought was too close to "champion", and so was called Chantix in some markets instead.

orra 5y ago

No, I don't think Comirnaty is any better! I am however relatively partial to Spikevax, aka Moderna: at least Spikevax is easily pronounceable. I suppose you mean the vaccine names are mainly useful for regulatory purposes, because the general population will continue to name the vaccines after the manufacturer or researchers?

palae 5y ago
As a native French speaker, I would say Comirnaty is actually easier to pronounce than Spikevax, and I suspect it might be similar in other Romance languages.
- orra 5y ago
  Intéressant. Sorry, I was being pretty anglocentric.
  - palae 5y ago
    Pas de problème ;) Now I'm thinking about it, finding a name that is easily pronounced in many languages is probably a fun but not that trivial task.
    - selcuka 5y ago
      CoronaVac (by Sinovac) sounds pretty accent-agnostic.

mattkrause 5y ago

Specifically, ChAdOx1 is the vector, a platform for making vaccines: there are vaccine candidates using it for TB, MERS, Zika, flu, and a bunch of other things (see here: https://clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/results?cond=&term=ChAdOx1&cntry=&state=&city=&dist= https://clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/results?cond=&term=ChAdOx1&cn...) In more normal times, most people outside of R&D would never encounter the name.

orra 5y ago
Exciting that they're using it as a platform to develop other vaccines. But I still maintain the official names are ridiculous. “Vaxzevria” is the trademark used by AstraZeneca in the EU. (As you say, not ChAdOx1.) And yes, the general population end up seeing Vaxzevria, on their vaccine information forms, and online at https://www.ema.europa.eu/en/medicines/human/EPAR/vaxzevria-previously-covid-19-vaccine-astrazeneca https://www.ema.europa.eu/en/medicines/human/EPAR/vaxzevria-...
- waterhouse 5y ago
  Someone on Twitter says: "Galaxy brain take: Pfizer intentionally picked a terrible & unpronounceable brand name because it wants people to keep calling it "the Pfizer vaccine"". (I personally will just pronounce it as "Moriarty", that being the closest recognizable name.)
  - mattkrause 5y ago
    That seems....very plausible. For other drugs, an amazing amount of effort is devoted to finding something that a) sounds "promising" but b) without making legally-untenable promises. The name `Viagra`, famously, is supposed to evoke ideas of vigor and Niagra (Falls). Pfizer had some trouble with Champix (varenicline), which some regulators thought was too close to "champion", and so was called Chantix in some markets instead.