More clarification on the vaccine setback by AstraZenaca https://www.cnbc.com/2020/09/09/covid-19-vaccine-trial-participant-had-neurological-symptoms-astrazeneca-ceo-says.html
“The participant who triggered a global shutdown of AstraZeneca’s Phase 3 Covid-19 vaccine trials was a woman in the United Kingdom who experienced neurological symptoms consistent with a rare but serious spinal inflammatory disorder called transverse myelitis, the drug maker’s chief executive, Pascal Soriot, said during a private conference call with investors on Wednesday morning. The woman’s diagnosis has not been confirmed yet, but she is improving and will likely be discharged from the hospital as early as today, Soriot said.”
Positive vaccine front – https://bgr.com/2020/09/09/coronavirus-vaccine-good-news-pfizer-efficacy/
“Pfizer and BioNTech announced results from preclinical trials involving their leading mRNA vaccine candidate. The two companies already shared results for the previous phases of human trials, including data for older volunteers who had received the drugs. Those studies indicated that humans responded well to the vaccine, showing minimal adverse effects while developing the expected immune response.”
“The monkeys were given two shots of BNT162b2 three weeks apart, with a control group getting a saline solution instead. The researchers looked at two dosages for the drug and found that both of them resulted in the development of neutralizing antibodies that lasted for at least 56 days. The higher the dose, the higher the neutralizing antibody titers were, and the results were better than convalescent humans who survived COVID-19 and developed antibodies for the virus.
The animals also produced the desired T cell responses that suggest the vaccine is safe and has an anti-viral effect.
The macaques were challenged with a very high dose of SARS-CoV-2 on day 55 after immunization, via the nose and the lungs. The researchers found that the vaccine prevented the virus from infecting lung cells in immunized animals compared to the control group. The virus did infect nose cells, a response we saw from other preclinical trials, but the viral RNA was not detectable within three days after the infection. The vaccine prevented 100% of lung infections and cleared nasal infections cleared in 100% of the challenged monkeys.”
“The US government already inked a $1.95 billion agreement with Pfizer for 100 million doses and an option for an additional 500 million doses. The companies also announced on Wednesday that they’ve inked a deal with the European Union to supply 200 million doses of the vaccine and an option for another 100 million, with deliveries to start at the end of 2020. Pfizer and BioNtech have both signed the pledge to science earlier this week, together with other leading COVID-19 vaccine developers.”
Finally some silicon valley input on the covid front – https://fortune.com/2020/09/09/apple-special-face-mask-for-employees/
“Apple has developed masks that the company is beginning to distribute to corporate and retail employees to limit the spread of Covid-19.
The Apple Face Mask is the first created in-house by the Cupertino, Calif.-technology giant for its staff. The other, called ClearMask, was sourced elsewhere. Apple previously made a different face shield for medical workers and distributed millions of other masks across the health-care sector.
Apple told staff that the Face Mask was developed by the Engineering and Industrial Design teams, the same groups that work on devices such as the iPhone and iPad. It is made up of three layers to filter incoming and outgoing particles. It can be washed and reused as many as five times, the company told employees.”
US back on top of the leader board – but had many days with very low numbers – 1206. Worldwide deaths surpasses 900K
Leading death state FL at 195
Miami-Dade FL lead the US counties in death at 74. Confirmations on a county view shows a big splattering of confirmation. Harris county TX lead the way at 723. Confirmations from testing per school openings?
Miami-Dade deaths are very volatile – still overall trend showing a decline from peak in Aug 5th 7 day moving average death of 45.7
France is contemplating another lock down as confirmations are back up as noted several days ago – however their fatality rate 3wk confirmation delay is below 0.5%
