Vaccines are on the horizon, but the last mile of vaccination — getting two doses into most people—is a Herculean task
When the announcement was made that Jonas Salk developed a highly efficacious polio vaccine, the nation rightly erupted in joy. The same phenomenon is happening now (though not with ticker-tape parades) with news of highly efficacious results with the first Covid-19 vaccines.
Regulatory approval of one vaccine in the U.K. has already occurred and the U.S. will likely soon follow suit. However, it is important to remember that a vaccine is not a vaccination. Make no mistake: These innovative vaccines are lights at the end of the long, dark tunnel, but we are still in a tunnel and the last…
COVID-19 presents the most pressing infectious disease challenge we have faced in over a century. If predictions are correct, this virus will exact an enormous toll in terms of death, hospitalization, and disruption. It will stress hospitals, panic populations, and alter life. Healthcare providers will not only be infected but be faced with unfathomable decisions in a setting in which standards of care may be altered.
It did not have to be this way.
In about 1997, DA Henderson — the man who eradicated smallpox– warned of the looming threat of pandemics and infectious disease emergencies as he founded a…
Amesh Adalja
Infectious disease MD working on pandemic policy, emerging infections, preventing bioterror. www.trackingzebra.com
