[dabigv13]

This is good news. 

I would really like to see challenge trials. If the numbers of cases continue to drop in the US, they're going to be hard-pressed to get a good sample of exposed people for Phase III.  This would also speed things up by many months.

Also, shouldn't the "warp speed" people in the federal government be clamoring to make 300 million doses of this?  The only thing we have to lose is money.  If a better candidate comes along, then at least we'll have the infrastructure in place.

I believe the manufacturing infrastructure will be significantly different depending on the vaccine chosen. Moderna's vaccine is an mRNA vaccine, which would be the first of it's type for human use. I am not close to an expert in this but I suspect making it would be pretty different than making the flu vaccine for instance with eggs. It may in fact be a lot easier to produce an mRNA vaccine at scale, but it will definitely be different.

Some logistics could still be worked out ahead of time either way though. Coming up with all the glass vials you'd need is one thing for instance.

This and the CD4 studies have me feeling positive. I started my 401k contributions again at a low level. Having some Moderna stock would be even better.

It is somewhat concerning to me Moncef Slaoui who was chosen to lead the administration "Warp Speed" project was a former Moderna board member with millions of stock still in the company. Considering how little oversight this administration tolerates, I'm not sure how much I trust that we will have the safest and most efficacious candidate. Hopefully the research results will be transparent and independently evaluable.

[dabigv13]

This is good news. 

I would really like to see challenge trials. If the numbers of cases continue to drop in the US, they're going to be hard-pressed to get a good sample of exposed people for Phase III.  This would also speed things up by many months.

Also, shouldn't the "warp speed" people in the federal government be clamoring to make 300 million doses of this?  The only thing we have to lose is money.  If a better candidate comes along, then at least we'll have the infrastructure in place.

I believe the manufacturing infrastructure will be significantly different depending on the vaccine chosen. Moderna's vaccine is an mRNA vaccine, which would be the first of it's type for human use. I am not close to an expert in this but I suspect making it would be pretty different than making the flu vaccine for instance with eggs. It may in fact be a lot easier to produce an mRNA vaccine at scale, but it will definitely be different.

Some logistics could still be worked out ahead of time either way though. Coming up with all the glass vials you'd need is one thing for instance.

This and the CD4 studies have me feeling positive. I started my 401k contributions again at a low level. Having some Moderna stock would be even better.

It is somewhat concerning to me Moncef Slaoui who was chosen to lead the administration "Warp Speed" project was a former Moderna board member with millions of stock still in the company. Considering how little oversight this administration tolerates, I'm not sure how much I trust that we will have the safest and most efficacious candidate. Hopefully the research results will be transparent and independently evaluable.