Last year was a year of small miracles regarding vaccine development. The mRNA vaccines are well targeted and well tolerated. The slow uptake, however, combined with uncontrolled inward migration with infected individuals creates a petri dish for mutations and variants. This becomes a direct threat to even those who were vaccinated.
Now we also fortunately know that the spike protein is an excellent target for the immune system. It works and is highly efficacious. However if we have more variants we need more updates to the vaccine. The mRNA should not include all of the dominant variants. Like flu shots, we can track the variants and modify and update the vaccines.
However the current administrations sees grossly deficit in performing this task. We are skimming along with the vaccine success of the past administration while the current appear lax in what is now a simple and necessary update.
The focus on masks distracts from the real solution, updated vaccines. The FDA without any form of aggressive and assertive leadership is at fault for not approving the current vaccine, a year after its trials and hundreds of millions already immunized.
We need three simple things from Government:
1. FDA approval of the mRNA vaccine, especially as it effects the deployment of variant based mRNAs
2. The aggressive testing and tracking of mRNA vaccine variants, now, not to wait!
3. The focus on vaccination and let the mask issue play itself out.
It is necessary for some leadership in the current administration and less pandering to egos. There is a small window of opportunity before we find ourselves back to ground zero. We must get variant based mRNA vaccines out now.
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