[Goose]

Well, mRNA vaccine development, which has been going on for about 10 years has yet to result in an approved product, but may prove helpful against COVID-19.  Likewise, the Oxford vaccine was developed based on a vaccine against the original SARS that was developed "too late" to be useful, but came very much in handy for this pandemic.  In other words, the cutting edge research people are doing now against COVID is unlikely to be helpful in this pandemic, but may help us against the next pandemic.

BC

I certainly agree that one of the possible benefits of the two therapies proposed is that they may be "broad spectrum" and can easily be used in the future for novel virus. We need to have this capability to prevent economic and medical disasters in the future.

However, I also wouldn't discount what we may need during this current outbreak. We don't yet have a vaccine, and it may be a while before we do. Having a therapy that can be given to COVID-19 patients that will in many instances prevent them from becoming seriously ill would go a long way towards allowing "normal life" in the interim. We don't have that yet, so anything that could provide it should be evaluated.

[Goose]

Well, mRNA vaccine development, which has been going on for about 10 years has yet to result in an approved product, but may prove helpful against COVID-19.  Likewise, the Oxford vaccine was developed based on a vaccine against the original SARS that was developed "too late" to be useful, but came very much in handy for this pandemic.  In other words, the cutting edge research people are doing now against COVID is unlikely to be helpful in this pandemic, but may help us against the next pandemic.

BC

I certainly agree that one of the possible benefits of the two therapies proposed is that they may be "broad spectrum" and can easily be used in the future for novel virus. We need to have this capability to prevent economic and medical disasters in the future.

However, I also wouldn't discount what we may need during this current outbreak. We don't yet have a vaccine, and it may be a while before we do. Having a therapy that can be given to COVID-19 patients that will in many instances prevent them from becoming seriously ill would go a long way towards allowing "normal life" in the interim. We don't have that yet, so anything that could provide it should be evaluated.