COVID Vaccine is Good Science & Can Save Your Life

I am a vaccine junkie. So was my mother, who enrolled us in the original Salk polio vaccine trials. My sister and I both received the vaccine and not placebo. That field trial was the largest vaccine trial ever conducted—1.6 million school aged children participated.

The vaccine worked—and we watched polio disappear. That was my first pandemic.

There are a number of COVID vaccine “candidates” being studied. In this case the term candidate means something thought scientifically to be “worth a shot,” so to speak.

The polio vaccine took years. I suspect COVID vaccine development will go faster because of advances in technology today.

The mRNA vaccine from Moderna Therapeutics looks like a hot ticket—see May 18 entry. There are several other vaccines that look promising, so be on the alert.

April 15, 1955. The success of the polio vaccine trials has been called the boldest, greatest public health achievement of all time. Dr. Salk did not benefit financially from his work. He gave it away.

FAQ:

• How long? If the mRNA vaccine works, the technology should speed up manufacturing and make more doses available faster.

• The vaccine may require more than one dose to give complete protection.

• Early vaccines may not be 100% effective. Even if it’s effective 50% of the time, that’s a good start while we continue to investigate other vaccine “candidates.”

• There is the “Human Challenge” option. In this case, after the vaccine and placebo are given to people, they are exposed to the virus. It’s a real time vaccine trial. Risky and controversial—but can give quick results.

Read more about Human Challenge in Stat here.

Notes on Dr. Jonas Salk, the investigator who led the polio vaccine trials:

• he became my childhood hero;

• he was a scientist and a humanitarian;

• and he never patented his vaccine—instead he gave it to big pharma “for the public good.”