COVID-19 Update

We're in an awkward stage of the pandemic now. We all wish it would end and so some people are just pretending it's over, while others are trying to tell us not to go off like everything's "back to normal" - whatever the fuck normal is now - and some others are issuing dire warnings about another surge.

I think I'm more or less in with the people who're telling us to proceed with caution so we can be reasonably sure there are no more big heavy shoes about to drop.

That said, we may be on the way to some pretty good news, but we have to stay after it this time, and not elect a bunch of deliberately ignorant ass-hats who'll cut the funding because their idiot constituents watched a few videos on YouTube and have convinced themselves that they know more than the eggheaded nerds at HHS.

NBC News:

Will we ever get a universal Covid vaccine?

The ideal version of a Covid vaccine would protect against all strains, known and unknown - but it won't be here soon

WASHINGTON — Vaccine experts convened at a conference Thursday to debate how future Covid-19 booster shots should be designed to ensure that they provide protection against not only known variants but variants that have yet to emerge.

It's become the million-dollar question as omicron and its growing family of subvariants have dealt a significant blow to the protection provided by the existing vaccines from both Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna.

The drugmakers, as well as outside researchers and government scientists, met to discuss the topic at the World Vaccine Congress meeting in Washington, D.C., on Thursday.

All agree that the shots should be updated to ensure they can continue to provide protection against severe illness, but there isn't yet a broad consensus on what the best approach should be moving forward.

The most popular idea floated was developing a so-called pancoronavirus vaccine — a shot that could protect against the entire spectrum of strains of the virus, both known and unknown.

The coronavirus that causes Covid-19 is part of a family of coronaviruses called betacoronaviruses. The coronaviruses that caused SARS and MERS are also in this family.

But betacoronaviruses are just one branch in the broader coronavirus family tree. There are also alphacoronaviruses, gammacoronaviruses and deltacoronaviruses.

A pancoronavirus vaccine would essentially target the trunk of the tree, providing protection against all of the branches.

Such a vaccine could provide "benefits in terms of durability and breadth,” Dr. Kayvon Modjarrad, a vaccine expert and director of Walter Reed's infectious diseases branch, said Thursday during a panel discussion on the topic.

Modjarrad, along with his colleagues at Walter Reed, are working to develop a pancoronavirus vaccine. A preclinical study published in December found the shot protected rhesus macaques against disease caused by the original strain of the coronavirus and produced antibody responses against variants of concern.

Trials in humans are currently underway.

The pancoronavirus vaccine is a different approach than what Pfizer and Moderna are currently pursuing.

Both companies are currently running clinical trials testing variant-specific or bivalent vaccines, which would target the dominant strain or strains circulating.