Vaccines Progress, FDA Approves Useless Treatment
There is good news out of Oxford, which said that the vaccine it developed with Astra Zeneca worked well and triggered a robust immune response in volunteers. Despite the good news, the UK government is warning that a widespread rollout of a coronavirus vaccine is unlikely before Christmas. The government added that the possibility of wider spread use of vaccines isn't going to happen until the spring of next year at the earliest. We would have enough doses and enough understanding of the medical infrastructure to distribute them effectively by that time.
The UK government also said it's unlikely that a vaccine is unlikely to stop infections, with a more likely scenario being that the disease will circulate and be endemic. Over time, UK health experts expect the management of coronavirus to improve along with vaccines that decrease the chance of infection and the severity of the disease. UK officials expect SARS-COV-2 will circulate like the annual flu.
Dr. Anthony Fauci, appearing on MSNBC's MTP Daily with Chuck Todd Friday, said that one or two of the five vaccine development efforts — all in Phase III clinical trials — will likely be see FDA approval by late '20 or early in 2021. But Fauci cautioned that distribution of a safe, efficacious vaccine would probably not be available to the general public before the second or even third quarter of next year — perhaps as early as April or as late as September. Fauci added that some front-line medical workers and vulnerable population groups, such as senior citizens or those with severe co-morbidities, may receive a vaccine shortly after FDA approval of one or more of the COVID-19 vaccines. Ultimately, they will grant authorization to manufacture and disseminate the vaccine through a pipeline network to include CVS and Walgreens.
Finally, the FDA approved Remdesivir as a treatment for COVID 19. However, the WHO conducted a large, randomized trial that shows Remdesivir did not reduce COVID-19 mortality rates. The widely-touted and hyped drug Donald Trump took also does not prevent the initiation of ventilation nor shorten hospital stays. The WHO's chief scientist, Dr. Soumya Swaminathan, defended the trial and made clear the timeline, suggesting that Gilead had the WHO data long enough that the company either withheld it from the FDA. Or the FDA knew and approved it regardless.
