Post #4480782
2026-08-09 04:43 UTC
@elana@babka.social Oh, it's coming, it's coming! It's just really slow.
I have been writing a blog on COVID for six years, summarizing research papers and news articles about COVID (with a filter on what is interesting for residents of British Columbia). There have been a LOT of papers about vaccines that work really really well in mice: are durable and/or broadly protective and/or stop onward transmission.... but then usually I don't hear any more.
The pace of vaccine development seems glacially, frustratingly slow to me. I have to remind myself that vaccine development has always taken forever. (We still don't have a vaccine for HIV after 40+ years!)
There are multiple reasons for this. The underlying problem is that mice are not people, and what works in a mouse might not work in people. (For example, did you know that mice don't throw up???) That means that it's risky to bet your company on something that works in mice... and trials are EXPENSIVE.
Replies (1)
-
@elana@babka.social 2026-08-09 05:27
@ducky@mstdn.ca that is very interesting! This is the first study I've seen that claimed to stop onward transmission this effectively, but to be fair, I haven't had the means to follow the news as closely as I would like to. If you have them to hand, could you point me to some of the other mouse trials that you've seen that also claim to block transmission? I would love to see what progress (or lack thereof) has looked like for them! I see in your bio that your background is in computers. Is vaccine research a new interest for you since 2020? I myself feel like I have a newly minted bachelor's degree in public health from the School of Surviving a Pandemic 😆