But What About the Children?
Pfizer/BioNTech submitted initial Covid vaccine data for children aged 5-11 in late September and last week formally requested an Emergency Use Authorization for that age group. FDA is likely to take a couple weeks, and assuming they like it, the vaccine will be available to that age group shortly thereafter. So it looks like the end of October is the likeliest availability.
An interesting thing about this clinical trial is how strangely small it was – only 2,268 participants. Seems like they could have easily found 5,000 parents each willing to enroll their 2.1 kids.
We here at BioPharmGuy are far from vaccine skeptics, but this small of a trial is moderately troubling. On the one hand, there appear to be no side effects in this age group other than what we have seen in other groups. Also, it’s 1/3 the standard dosage, yet still shows robust antibody production. But on the other hand, 2,268 people is not a big sample size. At all.
And as the acting FDA commissioner stated: “We know from our vast experience with other pediatric vaccines that children are not small adults”.
It’s really surprising the FDA signed off on such a small trial. A hypothetical 1-in-5000 side effect would only have a 50% probability of being detected in this trial, never mind rarer ones.
Adults not wanting to get vaccinated is, at this point, totally unreasonable and illogical. The evidence for vaccination is concrete regardless of what anyone’s “research” says. In contrast, in light of this very small pediatric clinical trial, being reluctant to be the first to get the pediatric vaccine may be reasonable.
There will probably be no significant side effects in younger children, but caution is not the worst thing in the world, especially considering how much less lethal/damaging the virus is for children. (Roughly 1-in-100,000 chance of death from Covid infection)
The thing is, vaccinating children is not for the protection of a**hole anti-vax adults – it’s for a return to normalcy for the kids themselves. The balance here is mostly normalcy vs. vaccine unknowns in children.
Many parents will not want to wait, and their children will effectively function as a larger phase 3 trial group. We applaud anyone who volunteers to take part in clinical trials that can benefit society at large and so we would feel the same about anyone who gets in the front of the line for the pediatric vaccine. Whichever way you go on this, as of now, there does not seem to be a ‘wrong’ choice. As more data come through, a more 'correct' choice will become clearer.
Wise Old Raccoons
Last week we shared the story of a gentleman who declined treatment for rabies after being bitten by a bat, with predictable results. This week, we have a rural area of Tennessee air-dropping bait laced with rabies vaccine for wild racoons.
We would suggest something similar for Covid vaccines in humans, but Krispy Kreme already gave it a go and failed miserably. The humans are just too dang smart with all that research they’ve been doing.
Transplant Madness
Another week, another person choosing to remain unvaccinated rather than receiving a life-saving kidney transplant. Her logic is that since a cell line was created 30+ years ago using fetal tissue, and vaccine research was conducted with said cell line, she cannot accept any of those vaccines, because abortion.
This logic will come as a surprise to the Pope whose Vatican has declared it is morally acceptable for Catholics to get the Covid-19 vaccines. But maybe we shouldn't worry about her - she said she would shop around hospitals in Texas and Florida for a kidney. Yeah, sure, kidneys are just everywhere down there – the fools on waiting lists all over the country are just too stupid to drive south! No folks in need of transplants in Texas and Florida at all - paragons of health! Geez. Good luck to her.
If you’re not familiar, the reason organ recipients are being required to be vaccinated in many places is because post-transplant, the patients are on large doses of immunosuppressant drugs for up to a year. During that time their body will not be able to mount much of a response to Covid (or any infection) and if some studies are to be believed, they would have up to a 1-in-5 chance of dying from Covid if infected. In a world with organ shortages, medical centers decide who gets transplants based somewhat on expected life-years saved. Being unvaccinated brings the number of expected life-years way down.
On the flipside, some hospitals, including the Cleveland Clinic, are refusing organ donations from unvaccinated patients. That would be all well and good if there were a surplus of organs flying around, but there are not (much to the chagrin of the aforementioned kidney lady.)
It’s fair enough to require a negative Covid test before any surgery and to deny a transplant to someone who is highly likely to die soon after, but it’s not clear why a willingly unvaccinated person who is donating a kidney should be denied that privilege. Weird.
Meat Culture
So you think a future of cell culture-grown meat will allow you a clean conscience as far as animal usage goes? Think again. Cell cultures still survive largely thanks to an ingredient known as FBS, which is a pinkish fluid that provides all sorts of necessary ingredients for cells to thrive. It is ever-present in labs and yes, they use it to grow cultured meat.
Specifically, it’s harvested from dead cow fetuses that are byproducts of the meatpacking industry. So much for ‘clean meat’, eh? Reasonable alternatives to FBS have been in the pipeline for a while and some are in use, but the FBS hegemony will survive for some time yet. It’s really, really hard to beat nature.
Apple-C
Apple is the lone holdout refusing to switch out their charging port for a standardized USB-C, mainly because they’re Apple and eff you.
An engineering student in Switzerland took matters into his own hands, showed that it was feasible and posted a teaser on YouTube. Smash that like button and subscribe to get the full length video!
