Scientists Report Good News: COVID-19 Is Not Mutating Quickly, Means Vaccine Could Provide Lasting Immunity
Achenbach spoke to Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory molecular geneticist Peter Thielen who said his team has studied 1,000 samples of the virus. They found “there are only about four to 10 genetic differences between the strains that have infected people in the United States and the original virus that spread in Wuhan.”
Thielen explained, “That’s a relatively small number of mutations for having passed through a large number of people. At this point, the mutation rate of the virus would suggest that the vaccine developed for SARS-CoV-2 would be a single vaccine, rather than a new vaccine every year like the flu vaccine.”
Achenbach spoke to two other virologists, Stanley Perlman of the University of Iowa and Benjamin Neuman of Texas A&M University at Texarkana, who confirmed Thielen’s opinion that “the virus appears relatively stable.”
Meanwhile:
According to the BBC, there are currently more than 20 vaccines against COVID-19 in development, noting that one in particular has just begun clinical trials in humans, skipping the typical animal research phase. Last week, it was reported that Kaiser Permanente Washington Health Research Institute (KPWHRI) in Seattle was starting a phase 1 clinical trial.
So our medical community is certainly working hard to fast track vaccines, likely hoping to have something in place by this fall (when covid-19 could come back around for a second time). Necessity is the mother of invention, and perhaps now is not the time for the cautionary 12-18 months that it generally takes to "fully" test and implement a new vaccine or drug. Cut that time in half, and it goes a long ways to saving many many people from a possible infection.
3 comments:
As the world has descended into coronavirus panic, the scum masquerading as journalists in this country have been working overtime to plumb new depths of irresponsibility.
Rather than accurately share information with a nervous public during a rapidly-growing pandemic, the American MSM has decided that any lack of veracity in the name of discrediting President Trump is justified.
They’ve been lying about virtually every aspect of President Trump’s and his administration’s response to the crisis.
I will just highlight a few of their most recent bits of awfulness before I reiterate how much I hate them...
https://pjmedia.com/news-and-politics/the-morning-briefing-latest-coronavirus-mutation-my-new-ways-to-hate-the-media/
Julie Kelly has a thread where she refers to a WSJ story that speculates that the mortality rate may be MUCH LOWER than advertised. Like actually a tenth of that of the flu. I'm not sure about her thread but the WSJ (behind a firewall for me) sure is interesting and she includes a picture of part of the article. This was a situation were we "had" to act without sufficient scientific data to make an informed decision. But boy was it costly.
Trump is right to start the country to look at how do we start up again.
https://twitter.com/julie_kelly2/status/1242815237591613441
Churches will be packed by Easter.
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