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Despite 95% Vaccination Rate, Harvard Experiences “Substantial Outbreak” of COVID

Despite having a vaccination rate higher than 95 per cent, Harvard Business School has been forced to move its first and second year students to remote learning after a “substantial” outbreak of COVID.
“In recent days, we’ve seen a steady rise in breakthrough infections among our student population, despite high vaccination rates and frequent testing,” Mark Cautela, head of communications for HBS, told <a href="https://poetsandquants.com/2021/09/27/breaking-harvard-business-school-moves-mba-classes-online-amid-rising-covid-cases/?pq-category=business-school-news">Poets&Quants</a>.
Despite the claim that the outbreak “is not occurring in classrooms or other academic settings on campus,” authorities have “decided to move all first-year MBA students, and some in the second year, to remote learning for the week of 9/27 to 10/03.”
According to Howard Foreman, a professor in the practice of management at Yale School of Management and a medical doctor, the situation represents a “substantial outbreak” that continues to worsen with “11 new graduate students testing positive in the last batch of tests.”
According to Harvard’s official coronavirus dashboard, 95% of students and 96% of employees are vaccinated against the virus.
“Is Harvard therefore implicitly admitting that vaccine effectiveness has waned to the point of total ineffectiveness?” asks <a href="https://www.zerohedge.com/covid-19/harvard-business-school-shifts-mba-classes-online-after-substantial-outbreak-covid">Zero Hedge</a>.
“So, despite all the promises of a ‘return to normal’ if only everyone were vaccinated (which in this case they are), it appears elite higher education in 2021 is no different from elite higher education in 2020… and certainly not any cheaper.”
Group activities and meetings have now all been moved online, with Harvard asking students to limit in-person interactions with others outside their household.
<div class="Zrwt6tQd"><a href="https://www.infowarsstore.com/ultra-12-b12?ims=amgjg&utm_campaign=Ultra12hero&utm_source=Infowars+Hero&utm_medium=banner&utm_content=Ultra12hero" target="_blank"><img src="https://api.directus.libertycdn.com/uploads/_/originals/Ultra12-hero-385.jpg" /></a></div>
This again underscores how people will be mandated to get constant booster shots, with all the attendant health risks, because the longevity of protection the vaccine offers is minimal.
Meanwhile, natural immunity, which <a href="https://www.timesofisrael.com/study-covid-recovery-gave-israelis-longer-lasting-delta-defense-than-vaccines/">studies show</a> offers 27 times more protection, is completely discredited by the media, with VICE recently <a href="https://elamerican.com/vice-natural-immunity-backlash-social-networks/">denying</a> its existence altogether.
Note also that Joe Biden said yesterday life in America won’t return to normal until 98% of the population is vaccinated.
Harvard almost reached that level and life is very much not back to normal.
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source <a href="https://www.infowars.com/posts/despite-95-vaccination-rate-harvard-experiences-substantial-outbreak-of-covid">https://www.infowars.com/posts/despite-95-vaccination-rate-harvard-experiences-substantial-outbreak-of-covid</a>

news Despite 95% Vaccination Rate, Harvard Experiences “Substantial Outbreak” of COVID

Despite having a vaccination rate higher than 95 per cent, Harvard Business School has been forced to move its first and second year student...

Married Michigan couple who were both fully-vaccinated but had underlying health conditions die of COVID just ONE MINUTE apart while holding hands

A married Michigan couple who were fully-vaccinated against COVID-19 both died of the virus just one minute apart. 
Cal Dunham, 59, and wife Linda, 66, ‘gained their angel wings’ Sunday despite taking precautions against the virus and being inoculated against it, relatives said.
The couple, who had undisclosed underlying health conditions, fell ill earlier this month during a family camping trip, the couple’s grieving daughter Sarah Dunham said.
‘[My dad] called me before our family camping trip and said he wasn’t feeling good but he thinks it’s just like sinus, and [Linda] caught it and she’s like, he gave me his cold,’ she told <a rel="noreferrer noopener" target="_blank" href="https://www.fox17online.com/news/coronavirus/grand-rapids-couple-dies-1-minute-apart-from-covid-19">Fox17</a>.
‘The third day they woke me up and said, “We’ve got to go because we don’t feel well.” So I packed them all up and they left.’
Dr. Bryan Ardis and Owen look at the case numbers from New York after vaccines and Remdesivir.
The pair was hospitalized within days and placed on ventilators. Both suffered from pre-existing conditions.
<div class="SGgHrG1W"><a href="https://www.infowarsstore.com/ultra-12-b12?ims=amgjg&utm_campaign=Ultra12hero&utm_source=Infowars+Hero&utm_medium=banner&utm_content=Ultra12hero" target="_blank"><img src="https://api.directus.libertycdn.com/uploads/_/originals/Ultra12-hero-385.jpg" /></a></div>
They died while holding hands; Cal passed away at 11:07 a.m., and his wife followed at 11:08 a.m. 
Cal Dunham updated his Facebook profile picture with a border May 15 to reflect getting his vaccine.
When friends commented that they had also gotten the jab, he commended them as being ‘awesome.’
<a href="https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-10035347/Married-couple-Michigan-fully-vaccinated-die-COVID-one-minute-apart.html">Read more</a>
 
 
source <a href="https://www.infowars.com/posts/married-michigan-couple-who-were-both-fully-vaccinated-but-had-underlying-health-conditions-die-of-covid-just-one-minute-apart-while-holding-hands">https://www.infowars.com/posts/married-michigan-couple-who-were-both-fully-vaccinated-but-had-underlying-health-conditions-die-of-covid-just-one-minute-apart-while-holding-hands</a>

news Married Michigan couple who were both fully-vaccinated but had underlying health conditions die of COVID just ONE MINUTE apart while holding hands

A married Michigan couple who were fully-vaccinated against COVID-19 both died of the virus just one minute apart. Cal Dunham, 59, and wif...

Blue States Ask American Taxpayers to Subsidize Housing for Poor Afghans

Some blue states are mulling plans to ask American taxpayers to subsidize housing for newly arrived Afghans brought to the United States by President Joe Biden’s administration as they struggle to afford housing costs in particular cities.
The Biden administration is hoping to <a href="https://www.breitbart.com/politics/2021/09/07/biden-asks-for-6-4b-to-resettle-95k-afghans/">bring</a> 95,000 Afghans to the U.S. over the next 12 months. Already, about 37,000 Afghans are in the U.S. and will soon <a href="https://www.breitbart.com/politics/2021/09/16/joe-biden-to-resettle-afghans-in-46-states-many-going-to-swing-states/">need</a> housing in about 46 states.
In certain cities and regions, Afghans running into high housing costs — partially pushed up by the nation’s legal immigration levels that bring millions of new arrivals to the U.S. every decade, all of whom need housing and thus <a href="https://www.breitbart.com/immigration/2021/09/17/amnesty-bill-to-spike-americans-housing-costs/">increase</a> demand.
“Population growth results in higher housing costs … Aside from San Diego, they all have higher population growth rates than the nation as a whole,” NumbersUSA’s Andrew Good has previously <a href="https://www.numbersusa.com/blog/too-damn-high" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">written</a>. “San Diego is what happens when a locality won’t, or can’t build enough additional housing to sustain higher population growth. But thanks to the aggregate pressures from national population growth, housing prices still go up.”
<a href="https://www.breitbart.com/politics/2021/09/27/blue-states-ask-americans-fund-housing-afghans/">Read more</a>
DHS Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas doubles down on his race baiting lies about Texas’ border enforcement, Alex Jones breaks down the truth.
<div class="wmP9PD4o"><a href="https://www.infowarsstore.com/ultra-12-b12?ims=amgjg&utm_campaign=Ultra12hero&utm_source=Infowars+Hero&utm_medium=banner&utm_content=Ultra12hero" target="_blank"><img src="https://api.directus.libertycdn.com/uploads/_/originals/Ultra12-hero-385.jpg" /></a></div>
 
 
source <a href="https://www.infowars.com/posts/blue-states-ask-american-taxpayers-to-subsidize-housing-for-poor-afghans">https://www.infowars.com/posts/blue-states-ask-american-taxpayers-to-subsidize-housing-for-poor-afghans</a>

news Blue States Ask American Taxpayers to Subsidize Housing for Poor Afghans

Some blue states are mulling plans to ask American taxpayers to subsidize housing for newly arrived Afghans brought to the United States by ...

Maricopa County: 23,344 Mail-In Ballots Voted from a Prior Address ‘Legal Under Federal Election Law’

Maricopa County officials tweeted Friday, 30 minutes into the Arizona Senate hearing on the report of the Forensic Election Audit of the county’s 2020 election results, it “is legal under federal election law” that 23,344 mail-in ballots were voted from a prior address.
In its first comment about the issue, the official Maricopa County Twitter account <a href="https://twitter.com/maricopacounty/status/1441470631787200514?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1441470634463092738%7Ctwgr%5E%7Ctwcon%5Es2_&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fpublish.twitter.com%2F%3Fquery%3Dhttps3A2F2Ftwitter.com2Fmaricopacounty2Fstatus2F1441470634463092738widget%3DTweet" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">tweeted</a>:
<blockquote class="wp-block-quote" readability="8">
CLAIM: 23,344 mail-in ballots voted from a prior address. BOTTOM LINE: Cyber Ninjas still don’t understand this is legal under federal election law. To label it a “critical” concern is either intentionally misleading or staggeringly ignorant. AZ senators should know this too.
</blockquote>
Maricopa County officials did not offer the details of the federal election law under which the county claimed 23,344 mail-in ballots voted from a prior address is legally authorized.
The official Maricopa County Twitter account then offered four explanations for 23,344 mail-in ballots voted from a prior address that was highlighted as a ballot issue “critical” to the outcome of the 2020 election in the <a href="https://cdn.nucleusfiles.com/fe/fe2178f7-654f-4b89-993e-6556f65e70d8/cyber-ninjas-report-vol.-iii.pdf?utm_medium=email&utm_source=ncl_amplify&utm_campaign=20210925-44000_ballots_the_left_wants_you_to_ignore&utm_content=ncl-MDqmNvNvWD&_nlid=MDqmNvNvWD&_nsid=f51bbfb5-198b-4f19-bb67-c1714c8cb8b9" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">report</a> released on Friday at the hearing in the Arizona State Senate:
<ul>
<li>1) Military and overseas voters can cast a “federal only ballot” despite living outside the U.S. The address tied to their ballot would be their prior address in AZ.</li>
<li>2) People are allowed to move from one house to another (or even one state to another) in October and November of an election year (yes, shocking!). If the driver’s license address matches the voter registration address, they are still allowed to vote.</li>
<li>3) For the November General Election Maricopa County had 20,933 one-time temporary address requests. In addition, snowbirds and college students tend to have forwarding addresses when they are out of the county.</li>
<li>4) Mail-in ballots are not forwarded to another address.</li>
</ul>
<a href="https://www.breitbart.com/politics/2021/09/27/maricopa-county-23344-mail-in-ballots-voted-from-a-prior-address-legal-under-federal-election-law/">Read more</a>
Owen wonders who Hillary Clinton was colluding with during the 2018 election.
<div class="wj2RwkuR"><a href="https://www.infowarsstore.com/ultra-12-b12?ims=amgjg&utm_campaign=Ultra12hero&utm_source=Infowars+Hero&utm_medium=banner&utm_content=Ultra12hero" target="_blank"><img src="https://api.directus.libertycdn.com/uploads/_/originals/Ultra12-hero-385.jpg" /></a></div>
 
 
source <a href="https://www.infowars.com/posts/maricopa-county-23344-mail-in-ballots-voted-from-a-prior-address-legal-under-federal-election-law">https://www.infowars.com/posts/maricopa-county-23344-mail-in-ballots-voted-from-a-prior-address-legal-under-federal-election-law</a>

news Maricopa County: 23,344 Mail-In Ballots Voted from a Prior Address ‘Legal Under Federal Election Law’

Maricopa County officials tweeted Friday, 30 minutes into the Arizona Senate hearing on the report of the Forensic Election Audit of the cou...

Lawyers & Scientists Are Building A Case For Why Natural Immunity Should Be Treated Same As Vaccination

Now that at least one employer in the health-care field – <a href="https://www.zerohedge.com/covid-19/michigan-health-care-system-says-workers-natural-immunity-dont-need-vaccine">Michigan’s Spectrum Health </a>– has decided to accept proof of natural immunity from prior infection as reason to waive its vaccination mandate for all employees, legal expert (and the reporters who love to quote them) are wondering: will the legality of proving natural immunity potentially win out in court?
The answer to that question, they say, will depend – as all things COVID-related do – on “the science”, that nebulous and frequently shifting concept of how prior infection impacts immunity to new variants (and whether vaccine’s do as well).
According to a report in <a href="https://finance.yahoo.com/news/natural-immunity-covid-19-legality-substitute-vaccination-123106323.html">Yahoo Finance</a>, the notion that natural immunity is superior is already gaining support in the legal world. Presently, a handful of studies from different countries offer a conflicting view of whether natural immunity actually is superior to vaccinated immunity, or a combination of prior infection and vaccination
Since it’s likely the federal government’s aim to roll out vaccine mandates that cover practically every US worker (they’re not too far off already), the issue of natural vs. vaccine immunity and whether some individuals should receive exemptions based on their antibody levels almost certainly be adjudicated in the federal courts. 
At least one attorney quoted by <a href="https://finance.yahoo.com/news/natural-immunity-covid-19-legality-substitute-vaccination-123106323.html">Yahoo agrees:</a>
“I think that a judge might reject a rule that’s been issued by a body, like the U.S. Department of Labor or by a state, that has not been sufficiently thought through as it relates to the science,” Erik Eisenmann, a labor and employment attorney with Husch Blackwell, told Yahoo Finance.
Owen and Dr. Bryan Ardis break down the criminal conspiracy occurring within our own local hospitals.
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As we reported when it was first published, <a href="https://www.zerohedge.com/covid-19/ends-debate-israeli-study-shows-natural-immunity-13x-more-effective-vaccines-stopping">a report out of Israel suggests that natural immunity</a> could be many times more effective than the Pfizer vaccine at preventing infection with the delta variant. That study has yet to be peer-reviewed, however, and the world is anxiously awaiting the results.
However, another peer-reviewed study cited by the CDC looks at dozens of cases in the US where certain people who tested positive for COVID never ended up generating the antibodies, which, science dictates, are necessary to fend off future infection.
The CDC also published a study of 246 Kentucky residents, concluding that vaccination offers higher protection than a previous COVID infection. The CDC said the study went through a “rigorous multi-level clearance process” before submission, but now some are concerned it’s slightly out of date since it pre-dates the rise of delta.
But as far as supporting natural vs. vaccinated immunity goes, this study is another big one: A C A June study by the Cleveland Clinic and Washington University tracked 52,238 Cleveland Clinic employees found that within 1,359 previously infected and unvaccinated people, none contracted a subsequent COVID-19 infection over the five-month study. The findings led authors to conclude that prior infection makes a person “unlikely to benefit from COVID-19 vaccination.”
Then there’s this:
In a smaller study conducted by Washington University School of Medicine and published in Nature, senior author Ali Ellebedy, PhD, an associate professor of medicine and of molecular microbiology, found antibody-producing cells in the bone marrow of 15 of 19 study subjects 11 months after their first COVID-19 symptoms. “These cells will live and produce antibodies for the rest of people’s lives. That’s strong evidence for long-lasting immunity,” Ellebedy said.
The legal and scientific standards are intertwined here, but as more data develops that appears to validate the argument that natural immunity is at least as effective as vaccinated immunity, it’s more likely that lawyers will succeed in convincing judges that the standard should be “immunity by any means.”
 
 
source <a href="https://www.infowars.com/posts/lawyers-scientists-are-building-a-case-for-why-natural-immunity-should-be-treated-same-as-vaccination">https://www.infowars.com/posts/lawyers-scientists-are-building-a-case-for-why-natural-immunity-should-be-treated-same-as-vaccination</a>

news Lawyers & Scientists Are Building A Case For Why Natural Immunity Should Be Treated Same As Vaccination

Now that at least one employer in the health-care field – Michigan’s Spectrum Health – has decided to accept proof of natural immunity fro...

Why you’re not getting a delta-specific booster yet

<div><img class="ff-og-image-inserted" src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/rnGppZcbhSCaz_Acb0aD_KHpWWE=/0x429:3000x2000/fit-in/1200x630/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/22876083/GettyImages_1234850735_copy.jpg" /></div>
When scientists created <a href="https://www.vox.com/2020/8/13/21359025/coronavirus-vaccine-covid-19-moderna-oxford-mrna-adenovirus">mRNA vaccines</a> for Covid-19 last year, they were hailed as an almost miraculous breakthrough. And not just because the Pfizer/BioNTech and Moderna shots were amazingly effective. mRNA technology was a radically new way to make vaccines, and it came with a huge selling point: It would enable scientists to reformulate the vaccines in response to new variants — and fast.
Which raises the question: Where’s our customized vaccine for the delta variant that’s been ravaging the globe for months now? Where’s that <a href="https://nihrecord.nih.gov/2020/12/11/corbett-recounts-quest-covid-vaccine">plug-and-play</a> <a href="https://abcnews.go.com/Health/mrna-vaccines-changing-coronavirus/story?id=76187538">solution</a> <a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2021/01/28/why-mrna-vaccines-like-covid-vaccines-are-more-flexible-to-variants.html">we were told to expect?</a>
It’s been somewhat slow to come, and we’ll get to the reasons for that in a bit. But it’s certainly not because the mRNA technology is more sluggish than scientists thought.
To see why scientists were right to be excited, consider how making an mRNA vaccine differs from making a more traditional vaccine. One reason why vaccines have traditionally taken a long time to produce is that scientists have to grow lots of pathogens (or parts of pathogens) in the lab before they can introduce them into the human body so the body will learn to recognize them.
In the case of the novel coronavirus, they’d normally have to grow lots of coronavirus spike proteins — the part the virus uses to attach to human cells — in the lab.
With mRNA vaccines, scientists found a genius way to sidestep this, accelerating the process by months. They identified the genetic sequence that creates the spike proteins and used that set of “instructions” in the vaccine, prompting our own bodies to produce the proteins in the virus. Those proteins then prime our immune systems. Researchers effectively <a href="https://www.vox.com/2021/2/2/22262226/covid-19-vaccines-mrna-adenovirus">outsourced the work</a> from their lab to our cells.
Using this method, scientists can retool the vaccine easily when needed because all they have to do is switch out the old genetic “instructions” for a new set. (In January 2020, Moderna proved just how fast this can be: It designed its Covid-19 vaccine in <a href="https://www.vox.com/future-perfect/22397914/vaccine-mrna-adenovirus-manufacturing-process-investment">one weekend</a>!) The new instructions wouldn’t have to be all that different because delta’s spike protein is pretty similar to the ancestral coronavirus’s, despite some mutations.
Now, it seems to <a href="https://noahpinion.substack.com/p/its-time-for-variant-specific-boosters">some</a> like a no-brainer that drugmakers should be churning out variant-specific vaccines, which could be used as boosters for people who’ve already gotten two doses, or theoretically as a first dose for unvaccinated people.
And in fact, the effort to make a delta-specific vaccine is in full swing. Pfizer/BioNTech and Moderna are on the case, and we may see these vaccines become available in the coming months. But here’s the thing: We might not actually need them.
The quick answer to the question, “Where are the delta-specific vaccines?” is simple: Pfizer/BioNTech and Moderna have already produced customized, delta-targeted vaccines.
But figuring out how to create bespoke spike proteins is just the first step. Now the drugmakers are testing how well these retooled vaccines can work as boosters.
Pfizer/BioNTech is testing out a <a href="https://fortune.com/2021/08/09/covid-vaccines-delta-variant-vaccine-biontech-pfizer/">reformulated vaccine candidate</a> specifically targeting delta. Clinical trial results are anticipated in the fourth quarter of the year. A vaccine to target the beta variant is also under investigation. (First identified in South Africa, <a href="https://www.vox.com/2021/1/21/22240475/covid-new-variant-south-africa-uk-brazil-vaccine-coronavirus">beta proved alarmingly adept at evading immunity</a>, though the hyper-transmissible delta is now more dominant.) “Both trials are ongoing,” a Pfizer/BioNTech spokesperson told me.
Likewise, Moderna recently <a href="https://investors.modernatx.com/news-releases/news-release-details/moderna-announces-significant-advances-across-industry-leading">announced</a> that it’s testing reformulated vaccine candidates to target the beta and delta variants. The company has already started testing three out of its four candidates in a Phase 2/3 trial, which will determine their efficacy. It plans to start testing the fourth — a combo candidate that targets both beta and delta — in the next few weeks. “The Company’s strategy is to develop booster vaccines against current variants of concern and against potential future variants of concern,” Moderna <a href="https://investors.modernatx.com/news-releases/news-release-details/moderna-announces-significant-advances-across-industry-leading">explained</a> in a news release for investors.
While progress on delta-specific boosters is a good thing, it does raise the question of whether we need them at all.
Both drugmakers have also been testing their original vaccines for their effectiveness as boosters. Pfizer, per its <a href="https://s21.q4cdn.com/317678438/files/doc_financials/2021/q2/Q2-2021-Earnings-Charts-FINAL.pdf">second-quarter earnings report</a>, found that administering a third dose of its vaccine led to a fivefold increase in antibodies against delta in 18- to 55-year-olds, and an 11-fold increase in 65- to 85-year-olds.
And according to a Moderna <a href="https://investors.modernatx.com/news-releases/news-release-details/moderna-announces-submission-initial-data-us-fda-its-covid-19">press release</a>, when the company tried out a third dose of its original vaccine, the results were stellar: It produced a 42-fold increase in antibodies against delta.
Antibodies are a signal that the human immune system can recognize and fight a virus, and while they’re not the only measure of immunity, robust antibody counts are a great sign.
Results like these are part of why some experts aren’t sure we need delta-specific vaccines. As Florian Krammer, a Mount Sinai virologist, said in an <a href="https://www.medscape.com/viewarticle/958292">interview with physician and researcher Eric Topol</a>:
<blockquote>
Trials of mRNA vaccines against the beta variant are being done in people who got the regular mRNA vaccine first. Some of these studies also have arms in which the same vaccine was given a third time, and it looks like that gives you as much protection or as-good antibody levels against beta, but also against delta, as the switched vaccine. So right now, it’s not clear whether there is even a benefit in changing the vaccine strain.
</blockquote>
Dan Barouch, an immunologist at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center in Boston, <a href="https://www.wbur.org/news/2021/08/27/covid-vaccine-delta-variant">reasons that</a> delta-specific vaccines probably won’t be that much better than the original vaccines because delta’s spike protein is pretty similar to the ancestral coronavirus’s in terms of its look and shape. That means the antibodies created by the original formulation of the vaccine, if we’re given third shots of it, should work well to attack the virus.
Angela Rasmussen, a virologist at the University of Saskatchewan, agrees. “We don’t need delta-specific vaccines,” she told me. Even for the huge swathes of the world that haven’t gotten any shots yet, and that could theoretically take a delta-specific vaccine as their first dose, she’s not sure it’s worth developing that tailored vaccine. “It would take a while to get through regulatory approval and manufacture and vaccines are needed now.”
To mass-produce delta-specific vaccines and use them as first doses for the unvaccinated, drugmakers would likely have to take some manufacturing plants offline from producing the original vaccine to start producing the tweaked vaccine instead, noted Celine Gounder, an infectious disease specialist and epidemiologist at NYU and Bellevue Hospital. Keeping them separate helps avert <a href="https://www.vox.com/2021/4/4/22366728/15-million-ruined-vaccine-doses-johnson-johnson-baltimore-plant">unfortunate mixups</a>, she added.
“Then the question is, is that really the best use of your manufacturing capacity when it hasn’t been proven that you really need to do that to protect against delta?” Gounder said. “You’re going to have, one, the delay of manufacturing and having to allocate specific manufacturing plants for that purpose, and two, the FDA review that would go into it, so that creates a delay. I don’t think that trade-off makes sense for the delta variant.”
It’s extremely helpful that mRNA vaccines are faster to make than traditional vaccines, and that the clinical trial process for tweaked mRNA vaccines is shorter than for the original vaccines. But between testing, manufacturing, and regulatory approval, retooling a vaccine still takes months.
Does that mean the initial optimism about mRNAs’ adaptability was overstated?
“I think the optimism is great outside of urgent Covid times — this [mRNA technology] could make vaccines easier to develop long term. For seasonal flu, where there’s already a process for rapidly evaluating reformulated vaccines, great!” Rasmussen said. “But in the urgent situation we face now with Covid, the regulatory process still takes time that right now we don’t have.”
In other words, an incredible technology (and make no mistake, mRNA is an incredible, world-changing technology) is all well and good — but it can only be used to its full potential in a scenario where regulatory pathways allow tweaked vaccines to be evaluated efficiently.
Even though Gounder doesn’t think we need a delta-specific vaccine, “It makes sense for [the drugmakers] to move forward on this even if that particular reformulation does not go into widespread use,” she said. “It really helps them figure out what may be the issues with updated vaccines,” in terms of manufacturing hiccups and regulatory pathways.
Given that variants may yet arise that dramatically escape our vaccines, she said, “It’s like a practice run.”
As the Pfizer/BioNTech spokesperson said in an emailed statement:
<blockquote>
The trials are aimed at studying the variants and shall enable the companies to rapidly react if an escape variant should require an updated vaccine. The companies are exploring the development, manufacturing, and regulatory pathway that BioNTech and Pfizer would pursue in this case to be able to adapt the vaccine within 100 days if necessary. This approach is part of BioNTech and Pfizer’s comprehensive strategy to address variants should the need arise in the future.
</blockquote>
There’s one other reason why making a reformulated vaccine to fight delta might have gotten off to a slow start, according to Benjamin Linas, an epidemiologist at Boston University. There are lots of unused doses of the original vaccines, which public health officials and drugmakers may have feared would go to waste if people decide they only want the “new and improved” version.
“I don’t know what message it would give if [Pfizer or Moderna] said, ‘Oh we have a specially engineered vaccine for delta.’ Would that generate concern that the original vaccine didn’t work? Which is absolutely not true,” Linas <a href="https://www.wbur.org/news/2021/08/27/covid-vaccine-delta-variant">said</a>. The vaccines are still really effective against delta, especially at preventing severe illness and hospitalization.
It’s possible that this winter, delta-specific vaccines may be on offer. But that does not mean there’s anything wrong with the original vaccines — and those who are eligible for boosters now and have waited at least six months since their second shot would do well to remember that the original vaccines are working perfectly well as a third dose.
“This is especially true for high-risk people,” Rasmussen said. “They should get the third shot now rather than wait.”
The FDA and CDC have <a href="https://www.vox.com/coronavirus-covid19/2021/9/24/22691355/covid-booster-shot-cdc-fda-pfizer-approval">endorsed</a> giving booster shots to some Americans who got the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine — namely, people over age 65 and nursing home residents, people who have <a href="https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/need-extra-precautions/people-with-medical-conditions.html">medical conditions</a> that raise the risk of severe Covid-19, and people whose job puts them at higher risk of contracting the virus.
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source <a href="https://www.vox.com/future-perfect/22687728/delta-specific-booster-vaccine-covid">https://www.vox.com/future-perfect/22687728/delta-specific-booster-vaccine-covid</a>

vox Why you’re not getting a delta-specific booster yet

When scientists created mRNA vaccines for Covid-19 last year, they were hailed as an almost miraculous breakthrough. And not just because ...