A U.S. COVID-19 vaccine is poised to enter final testing
Good morning. I’m glad to report that this Wednesday newsletter is here with some good news, after the weather. No storms and not too hot. Twin Cities will be partly cloudy with light winds and highs in the lower 80s with a clear night and temps down to the lower 60s. Statewide, sunny with highs in the upper 70s to mid-80s and evening lows down to 60.More on Updraft | Forecast
The first COVID-19 vaccine tested in the U.S. is poised to enter final testing. Developed by the National Institutes of Health and Moderna Inc., the experimental vaccine will in about two weeks enter a 30,000-person study to see if it’s truly strong enough to protect against the virus. This most important step follows reports from yesterday that the first 45 volunteers to get the shots had the immune boost scientists were hoping for.
The vaccine requires two doses administered a month apart. The volunteers who got the latest round of trials developed COVID-19 antibodies, which are key to blocking infection, at levels compared to those found in coronavirus survivors. “This is an essential building block that is needed to move forward with the trials that could actually determine whether the vaccine does protect against infection,” said Dr. Lisa Jackson of the Kaiser Permanente Washington Research Institute.
Remember: There is no guarantee on the timing of a vaccine, or whether this one will prove effective in a larger study. However, the U.S. government hopes to have results around the end of 2020, which would be a record-setting pace for vaccine development. The government is planning other larger studies of vaccine candidates from Oxford and Johnson & Johnson, while Pfizer Inc. is planning a large study of its own.
“No matter how you slice this, this is good news.” Dr. Anthony Fauci, the nation’s top infectious disease expert, told The Associated Press that people think development of vaccines are “a race for one winner. Me, I’m cheering every one of them on. … “We need multiple vaccines. We need vaccines for the world, not only for our own country.”
But it's not all good news: Minnesota's increasing COVID-19 caseload is becoming a concern elsewhere. Visitors from here and Wisconsin must now quarantine for 14 days upon arrival in New York, New Jersey and Connecticut, under an order yesterday by New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo.
