Yes, the COVID-19 vaccine development is going much faster than what is normally done, even for an orphan drug.
First off, there are 7 primary cornaviruses that cause disease in humans:
(1) MERS: deadliest at upwards of 30% mortality rate
(2) SARS1: roughly 10% mortality rate
(3) SARS2 that is COVID-19: mortality rate roughly 3% but could be lower due to upwards of 40% of cases being asymptomatic
(4) Four coronaviruses that cause about 25% of all common colds (in US about 250 million cases a year): mortality rate negligible
There are two major versions of the COVID-19 cornavirus. The original one from China that came to the US West Coast and a mutated version that hit Europe and came to the US East Coast. The European version is more deadly than the original China version.
There have been over 16,000 recorded mutations of the original COVID-19 coronavirus, most with few negative resultant effects.
The most important mutation is known as D614G. It increased the infection capability by causing the number of protein spikes to increase. These protein spikes are what attaches to the cell to infect it. This mutation looks to have first appeared in Europe and came to the US through mostly New York. This version of the cornavirus has gradually spread to Southern US and out West. This version looks to have probably help cause the increase in infections seen recently in the South and West.
Now, one big question of scientists is why so many asymptomatic or very mild infections. There have been multiple studies trying to determine why and 4 main theories as to why:
(1) One theory says that some people have partial immunity to the COVID-19 coronavirus due to so-called "memory" T cells — white blood cells that run the immune system and are in charge of recognizing invaders. The theory is that exposure to one or more of the 4 common cold coronaviruses generated T cells that "recognized" the COVID-19 coronavirus. They then successfully attacked the COVID-19 cornonavirus and the result was an asymptomatic or minor infection. In a journal Cell paper, it was found that donated blood from 2015 to 2018 (before COVID-19 coronavirus existed in humans) of non-infected patients was found to have the T-cells recognize the COVID-19 coronavirus in 40% to 60% of the blood samples. This study matched the results of other research studies done in the Netherlands, Germany and Singapore.
(2) Another theory suggests that childhood vaccines may have provided partial immunity against the new coronavirus for some patients.
(3) Researchers at NIH are looking into a theory that suggests ACE2 receptors may affect the severity of illness a person develops from the new coronavirus. I believe some of the vaccines being developed are intended to "trick" the COVID-19 coronavirus to not attach to the ACE2 receptors but instead to attach to the drug/biologic.
(4) Researchers are also exploring whether widespread mask use affects the severity of Covid-19. Monica Gandhi, a researcher at the University of California, noticed how different asymptomatic case numbers were on two different cruise ships. On the Diamond Princess, where masks were not used, 47% of those infected with the virus were asymptomatic. But on an Argentine cruise ship, where all passengers were given surgical masks and crew received N95s, 81% of cases were asymptomatic.
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So, what does the above mean? One train of thought is that due to the high number of asymptomatic cases, COVID-19 may not be as dangerous as first thought to the general public.
There are certain demographics and pre-existing conditions that cause the biggest issues (i.e., the old demographic and conditions that negatively affect the immune system).
Protect these people (not done initially due to ignorance if the COVID-19 coronavirus was general in scope or more targeted).
Now COVID-19 is a respiratory disease and actually does have some similarities to the effects caused by the flu. Here is a link to a John Hopkins Medicine article comparing COVID-19 with the flu:
www.hopkinsmedicine.org/health/conditions-and-diseases/coronavirus/coronavirus-disease-2019-vs-the-fluAs can be seen, the flu can cause some pretty bad stuff, some the same as those caused by COVID-19.
Per WHO, there are roughly 1 billion cases of flu a year with up to 650,000 deaths worldwide. And that is with a vaccine.
So far, as of September 14th, COVID-19 has had 924,814 deaths reported worldwide with 29,190,588 cases (a 3.168% mortality rate). In the US, 194,084 people have died of COVID-19 with 6,553,399 confirmed cases (a 2.962% mortality rate). And this is without a vaccine.
Note that the "true" mortality rate is probably lower due to the high number of asymptomatic cases and the fact that everyone is not being tested for COVID-19 nor for the presence of COVID-19 antibodies. What we have is a mortality rate based upon confirmed cases of COVID-19 and not upon total COVID-19 cases that actually have occurred.
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One last thing about vaccines.
Per WHO, even the best vaccines have been found to be only 85% to 95% effective. That means that even if one takes a vaccine for COVID-19, in the best case, 5% of these people could still get COVID-19. To put that in perspective, as of 2019, the US had a population estimated as 328.2 million people. Ergo, in the US up to 16.41 million people still could get COVID-19 even with the best vaccine results.
Now, we better hope that any COVID-19 vaccine developed does not follow the flu vaccine. Namely, that every year a new flu vaccine needs to be developed because of the many mutations that occur in the various viruses that cause the flu.
Per National Jewish Health in Denver, Colorado (the leading respiratory hospital in the US, and probably the world:
www.nationaljewish.org/home), over the past dozen or so years, the average effectiveness of the flu vaccines used has been 43%! Ergo, on average, even when taking the flu vaccine, roughly 3 of 5 people still could get the flu, albeit probably of a lesser severity.
So the idea that a vaccine is going to "cure" COVID-19 is probably not true.
So the politicians can continue to turn the screws to people when the vaccines being developed do not "work" even though they really do within the expected efficacy ranges.
Fortunately, a recent court case in Pennsylvania went against the politicians. Basically, lockdowns cannot be forever as they violate the Constitutional rights of people. Lots of people are getting mad. The cost of the lockdowns may outweigh any alleged gains.
COVID-19 deaths are bad, but to put in perspective, in 2019, in the US, there were about 606,880 deaths from cancer or almost three times that of COVID-19. So where is the panic?
And how about heart disease? Per the CDC, annually there are about 655,000 deaths. Roughly that is one every 36 seconds. So where is the panic?
The politicians have cruelly scared people beyond reasonableness regarding COVID-19.