How the rise of antivirals may change the course of the pandemic

‘Making them isn't easy. But new pills to treat COVID-19 are now showing promise at curbing illness and saving lives...

‘Unlike vaccines that can prevent infection, antivirals act as a second line of defense, slowing down and eventually arresting progression of a disease when infections occur. They’re also important when effective vaccines aren’t available against viral diseases, as is the case for HIV, hepatitis C, and herpes.

‘But developing antivirals is an expensive and difficult endeavor. That’s especially true for acute respiratory diseases, for which the window for treatment is short. In the case of SARS-CoV-2, the coronavirus that has unleashed the devastating COVID-19 pandemic, researchers have resorted to repurposing old drugs or compounds that were being tested against other diseases.’

Read here (National Geographic, Nov 5, 2021)

What to expect with Covid-19 vaccines for kids ages 5 to 11...

‘Here’s what the science reveals about the safety of the Pfizer shot for this age group, the doses involved, and the role it will play in protecting everyone from the disease...

‘A recent Swedish study confirmed the value of this ring of protection: Families where one member is immunized have up to a 61 percent lower risk that others in the home will get COVID-19, while three or four immunized members gives more than a 90 percent reduction.

‘Inoculating children in an effort to protect others already happens in the U.S., Levy says. “Some say it’s not ethical to vaccinate kids for a disease that doesn’t affect them as much,” he says, but children are currently immunized against rubella when the main risk is to pregnant mothers, he points out.’

Read here (National Geographic, Oct 30, 2021)

Vaccine mandates have worked in the past. Can they overcome modern hurdles?

‘While some politicians have touted the new mandates as “un-American,” vaccine mandates are older than the United States itself. “General [George] Washington mandated smallpox inoculation—the precursor to the vaccine, and a more dangerous procedure—for the Revolutionary Army,” says Dorit Reiss, a law professor who specializes in vaccine policy at the University of California, Hastings College of the Law. “And I don't think it’s fair to describe Washington as un-American.”

Read here (National Geographic, Sept 16, 2021)

China’s exotic farms may be a missing link behind the pandemic’s leap to people

‘Given that more than a year passed between late 2019, when the disease was linked to the market, and December 2020, when China says it shut down all its food-supplying wildlife farms, acquiring such evidence may prove impossible. Still, filling in gaps about how the virus may have leaped to humans is essential for understanding the COVID-19 pandemic and combating future zoonotic diseases.

‘Yunnan, the southern Chinese province where many of the now-shuttered wildlife farms are located, is also where virologists found a bat virus almost identical to the coronavirus circulating in humans. Some wildlife farms sold animals that can be infected with other coronaviruses, including civets, so scientists suspect that these species may also be susceptible to SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19. “Potentially, some of these animals were infected at those farms and then brought the virus into the market,” Peter Ben Embarek, the Danish food safety scientist heading WHO’s delegation, told Science in February, after he and the WHO team returned from China, adding that more testing was needed.’

Read here (National Geographic, Mar 25, 2021)

Why kids need their own Covid-19 vaccine trials

‘Adolescents are being tested now. Younger children will be next. Why did vaccine manufacturers wait to study them?...

‘The U.S. Food and Drug Administration requires that new vaccines be independently studied in children. Children’s immune systems are still maturing and are unpredictable, so they might react to the coronavirus differently or have side effects that don’t occur in adults. “They might respond better or worse,” says James Campbell, professor of pediatrics at the University of Maryland School of Medicine’s Center for Vaccine Development and Global Health. “Until you do the study with the vaccine, you don’t know what will happen.”

Read here (National Geographic, Feb 20, 2021)

The vaccine alternatives for people with compromised immune systems

‘While the exact number of the immunocompromised worldwide is unknown, estimates suggest that about 10 million live in the U.S. alone, or around 3 percent of the national population. The number encompasses a diverse range of vulnerabilities, including rare genetic immune deficiencies, chronic illnesses that impair the immune system such as rheumatoid arthritis, and cancer and organ-transplant patients who must take immune-suppressing medications.

‘For them, vaccines will not be effective, because they are incapable of making their own antibodies to neutralize the SARS-CoV-2 virus. Instead, pharmaceutical companies around the world are racing to develop alternative treatments that bypass the immune system altogether.

‘The most common option is called monoclonal antibody treatments. These artificially generated antibodies mimic the body’s natural immune response by binding to key sites on the virus’ spike protein, preventing it entering cells and reproducing. Companies including AstraZeneca, Regeneron, and Eli Lilly are currently testing whether monoclonal antibodies can protect immunocompromised people from SARS-CoV-2.’

Read here (National Geographic, Feb 4, 2021)

Dozens of COVID-19 vaccines are in development. Here are the ones to follow

‘Though it’s too soon to say which candidates will ultimately be successful, here’s a look at the prospects that have reached phase three and beyond—including a quick primer on how they work and where they stand.’

Read here (National Geographic, Sept 24, 2020)