An out-of-control surge speeds up the hunt for vaccines
In the past week, the U.S. has reported a daily average of nearly 160,000 new coronavirus cases. The virus is overwhelming hospitals and killing more than 1,100 Americans a day. The raging pandemic is also helping scientists measure more quickly how well their vaccines protect against Covid-19.
The drugmakers Pfizer and Moderna have accelerated the testing of their vaccines, which appear to be very effective at preventing Covid-19. The fast-growing pandemic could also speed up trials of treatments for the infection.
Pfizer said on Wednesday that its coronavirus vaccine was 95 percent effective and had no serious side effects — the first set of complete results from a late-stage vaccine trial. Moderna on Monday said an early analysis had found its vaccine to be 94.5 percent effective.
Context: In late-stage vaccine trials, the faster that participants get sick, the faster that drug developers gain enough data to know whether their vaccines are effective. The trial ends once a certain number of cases have accrued, and the vaccine is effective if the number of people who get the placebo and get sick far exceed vaccinated people who get sick.
Here are the latest updates and maps of the pandemic.
In other developments:
■ The state of South Australia announced a six-day lockdown, with officials saying they hoped to avoid the kind of outbreak seen in Victoria State months ago. A cluster, which totaled 22 cases since Saturday, has been traced to a traveler quarantining in a hotel.
■ The U.S. Food and Drug Administration authorized the first rapid at-home coronavirus test. The test can return results in about half an hour, and is projected to cost $50 or less.
■ France became the first country in Europe to pass two million detected cases of coronavirus infection this week, but authorities expressed optimism that lockdown measures were starting to slow the spread.
The New York Times
Me: Heard the Aussies have a test which costs $1 each, don’t know if it is the same one that you get charged $50 for, but interesting?