… To kick off the effort, the White House is gathering key federal officials, top scientists, and pharmaceutical executives including representatives of Pfizer and Moderna for a Tuesday “summit” to discuss the new technologies and lay out a road map for developing them.
“These are vaccines that are going to be far more durable, that are going to provide far longer-lasting protection, no matter what the virus does or how it evolves,” Ashish Jha, the White House Covid-19 response coordinator, said in an interview. “If we can drive down infections by 90% … Covid really begins to fade into the background, and becomes just one more respiratory illness that we have to deal with.”
Jha acknowledged that such a campaign would likely require more money from Congress, though he declined to provide a specific estimate.
The summit is the strongest sign of support to date for developing a new generation of Covid-19 vaccines — an effort that several prominent researchers have long advocated, but that has languished due to lack of investment. Several of those scientists praised the new White House initiative, expressing hope that it is a harbinger of bigger steps that will yield a next generation of Covid vaccines…
“We have fantastic vaccines that are actually doing a lot of good right now and are quite safe,” Jha said. “And so the bar for approving new vaccines is going to be that it has to be better than that. And that’s going to be a high bar.”
While hospitalization rates remain low compared to the devastating Covid waves of January 2021, September 2021, and January 2022, they have steadily climbed since April, as contagious viral variants including BA.4 and BA.5 have rapidly spread. There is really no predicting, experts say, what the virus will throw at society next.
“There’s a sense that we’re playing catch-up with the virus,” Jha said. “The virus is constantly evolving. We’re having to evolve with it, that’s fine. But over the long run, we really need a serious breakthrough.”
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In a normal timeline, the story below would’ve been the lead — or even deserving of its own, prime-time post. But the America-first grifters, the conspiracy theorists, and the media enabling them have dug in so deeply that it’s going to make absolutely no bloody difference in this one. For the record — here’s the first of a long, meaty thread with lots of links:
Where did the pandemic begin?
Was it from nature or a lab?
Since the start, this fundamental question has gone unanswered.
Until now.
Out in @ScienceMagazine: SARS-CoV-2 emerged into humans via the live animal trade at the Huanan Seafood Market.https://t.co/hnl9j3E6j6
— Dr. Angela Rasmussen (@angie_rasmussen) July 26, 2022
COVID-19 Coronavirus Updates: Sunday / Monday, July 24-25
Not since humans invented shoes or underwear has a single item of apparel caught on so widely and quickly around the globe as face masks. Masks are becoming a mirror on humanity in its battle against the coronavirus. Full story: https://t.co/b3tISQajLR pic.twitter.com/lBHkMqiqOd
— The Associated Press (@AP) July 24, 2020
Two years ago! (Another serendipitous find from the Draft folders)
COVID-19 Coronavirus Updates: Thursday / Friday, July 21-22
Joe Biden, the oldest person ever to serve as president of the United States, has tested positive for COVID and is experiencing mild symptoms, the White House said https://t.co/RkilR59Z8w pic.twitter.com/dpUSmotXAD
— Reuters (@Reuters) July 21, 2022
DR. PETER HOTEZ, VIROLOGIST AND DEAN OF BAYLOR COLLEGE OF MEDICINE NATIONAL SCHOOL OF TROPICAL MEDICINE, ON TWITTER:
“We all knew this would happen, it was just a matter of time. Given the hectic schedule of the POTUS and the super high transmissibility of BA.5.”
COVID-19 Coronavirus Updates: Saturday / Sunday, May 28-29
An ornate wooden memorial for Britain’s COVID-19 victims has been intentionally set alight in front of more than 10,000 people in Warwickshire.
A group of seven torchbearers including a reverend, and some of the people who worked on the structure, were specially selected to set the structure ablaze.
The 20m-high (65ft) wooden monument, called Sanctuary, was then burned to the ground just a week after it opened.
It had been a tribute to those who died after testing positive for coronavirus.
Artist David Best, who is known for large-scaled intricately carved structures at Burning Man Festival in the Nevada Desert, designed the memorial, along with independent arts company Artichoke, which produced Sanctuary…
COVID-19 Coronavirus Updates: Saturday / Sunday, May 28-29Post + Comments (28)
Covid-19 Coronavirus Updates: Friday / Saturday, May 27-28
U.S. COVID update:
– New cases: 141,078
– Average: 110,515 (-698)
– States reporting: 32/50
– In hospital: 26,080 (+180)
– In ICU: 2,826 (+13)
– New deaths: 424
– Average: 364 (-11)More data: https://t.co/ohnVKtNdM3 pic.twitter.com/AYZ4ovuQqq
— BNN United States (@BNNUS) May 28, 2022
Covid-19 Coronavirus Updates: Friday / Saturday, May 27-28Post + Comments (19)
COVID-19 Coronavirus Updates: Thursday / Friday, May 26-27
U.S. COVID update: Daily deaths rise 3 days in a row, at one-month high
– New cases: 108,128
– Average: 111,212 (-394)
– States reporting: 33/50
– In hospital: 25,900 (+306)
– In ICU: 2,813 (+56)
– New deaths: 511
– Average: 375 (+23)More data: https://t.co/ohnVKtNdM3 pic.twitter.com/9wN3uaXI5p
— BNN United States (@BNNUS) May 27, 2022
COVID-19 Coronavirus Updates: Thursday / Friday, May 26-27Post + Comments (32)
COVID-19 Coronavirus Updates: Wednesday / Thursday, May 25-26
U.S. COVID update:
– New cases: 202,378
– Average: 111,607 (+1,831)
– States reporting: 40/50
– In hospital: 25,594 (+231)
– In ICU: 2,757 (-12)
– New deaths: 635
– Average: 352 (+10)More data: https://t.co/ohnVKtNdM3 pic.twitter.com/z86MFz52wh
— BNN United States (@BNNUS) May 26, 2022
COVID-19 Coronavirus Updates: Wednesday / Thursday, May 25-26Post + Comments (32)