Morning all,
Sometimes these take ages, I think todayās is worth a read if you have a few ā
I actually love the photos shared today too, so get all the way down š
Anyway, Cāmere to meā¦
Interesting
Vaccine Efficacy vs Effectiveness š
Lots of hope, but letās not get ahead of ourselves.
During the week Pfizer and BioNTech shared news that their mRNA-based vaccine was over 90% effective against Covid-19, and then just yesterday Moderna announced that theirs was 94.5% effective.
However, the results came in press releases, not scientific papers, these results are interim analysis and phase 3 clinical trials are incomplete, and although not of serious concern there were some adverse effects reported (injection site pain, muscle and joint pains, fatigue etc).
For those curious this was the Moderna press release, and this was the Pfizer & BioNTech press release.
In phase 3, the vaccine is tested against itās ability to spread in the ārealā world. Researchers canāt deliberately infect anyone so instead they recruit thousands of people to take part, increasing the likelihood of infections within the trial. Then once they have positive cases within the volunteers the analysis compares those who were given the vaccine vs the placebo, if a high percentage of those infected had been given the placebo then that statistically bodes well for the vaccine.
āIn a clinical trial like this, neither the company nor the volunteers know who received the vaccine and who received the placebo. This is known as a double-blind study and is considered the gold standard for clinical research. Itās done to prevent either side from changing their behaviour or biasing the trial in a deliberate or unconscious way. Someone who knows they received the actual vaccine may engage in riskier behaviour, for example, or the company may be tempted to give the vaccine to people already at lower risk of exposure to boost the apparent efficacy.ā
Efficacy
/ĖÉfÉŖkÉsi/
noun:Ā
efficacy
the ability to produce a desired or intended result.
Often used synonymously with effectiveness, although pharmacology a distinction is made between efficacy and effectiveness.
The key distinction being, Efficacy is the effect in ideal conditions, in a lab setting or clinical study where there are strict rule and extraneous variables are controlled, essentially how good is a drug at achieving a result whatever the cost.
Where as effectiveness is the effect in the real world, and encompasses everything from actual tolerability to things like manufacturing, distribution and ease of administration, and it is what the people should be looking at too.
Some things have already been flagged as a hindrance, such as the low temperatures required to store the mRNA vaccine (more so the Pfizer one) thus making transport difficult and costly. For example most doctors offices wonāt be equipped to store the drug at -70Ā°C which will lead to interim warehouses being setup with reliable electrical supplies and backup generators (to mitigate the risk of loosing large batches).
You might also come across efficiency thrown in as another term for effectiveness, but in this sense efficiency referrers to cost, the ability to achieve a result intended per unit cost with all economic and political considerations taken into account.
From an Irish perspective, due to the EU purchasing agreements, we are due to receive 3 million doses of the Pfizer vaccine and 1.6 million doses of the Moderna vaccine, so thatās a pretty good start.
Another positive is that good results from both mRNA vaccines bode well for other companies also well underway in their clinical trials. Weāll get into mRNA another day š¤š½
Random
Loser.com ā
This funny domain name was set up in 1985 by Brian Connelly, and according to the Wikipedia page it has been used as a redirect to a whole host of different things and notable people over the years, often changing every few months.
As of November 12th 2020, it rather fittingly redirects to Donald Trumpās Wikipedia page, and no this isnāt the first time it has, but it has a particularly literal meaning this time.
And it really does, if youāre curious - loser.com
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