John Parkinson

The herd immunity approach championed by the Great Barrington Declaration would, if actually put into practice, prove disastrous for society as a whole and the healthcare system in particular. That’s the message in a memorandum that was written by 80 international researchers and published in 

 this week. That open letter, called the John Snow Memorandum, warns that a herd immunity approach to managing COVID-19 by allowing immunity to develop in low-risk populations while protecting the most vulnerable is “a dangerous fallacy unsupported by the scientific evidence.” That’s also a point made by Kevin Kavanagh, MD, a member of 

Kavanagh wrote that “for infection preventionists and frontline healthcare workers, the Great Barrington Declaration places their lives and livelihood at risk.”

The authors of the John Snow Memorandum come from a variety of medical specialties including public health, epidemiology, medicine, pediatrics, sociology, virology, infectious disease, health systems, psychology, psychiatry, health policy, and mathematical modeling.

In the memorandum, the authors speak of success in some countries who have employed COVID-19 containment strategies.

“Japan, Vietnam, and New Zealand, to name a few countries, have shown that robust public health responses can control transmission, allowing life to return to near-normal, and there are many such success stories,” the authors wrote in the memorandum.

They also advocated for the continued approach to minimize risk of transmission. “The evidence is very clear: controlling community spread of COVID-19 is the best way to protect our societies and economies until safe and effective vaccines and therapeutics arrive within the coming months. We cannot afford distractions that undermine an effective response; it is essential that we act urgently based on the evidence.”

The memorandum authors did acknowledge that ongoing restrictions have understandably led to widespread demoralization and diminishing trust among the public, and that in the face of a second wave of infection there is renewed interest in natural herd immunity approaches.

However, they say any pandemic management strategy relying upon immunity from natural infections for COVID-19 is flawed.

, spoke to one of the declaration’s authors, Martin Kulldorff, PhD, Professor of Medicine at Harvard Medical School & Brigham and Women’s Hospital. He spoke on a number of topics including the age-targeted approach to dealing with COVID-19. To view that interview and learn more about the declaration, click 

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A letter signed by 80 researchers says the concept put forth by the Great Barrington Declaration is “a dangerous fallacy.”

Experts Forcefully Push Back on Barrington Declaration

The US government announced this morning it is going to buy the Pfizer and BioNTech 

The U.S. government will pay the companies $1.95 billion upon the receipt of the first 100 million doses, following US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) authorization or approval. The U.S. government also can acquire up to an additional 500 million doses.

“Expanding Operation Warp Speed’s diverse portfolio by adding a vaccine from Pfizer and BioNTech increases the odds that we will have a safe, effective vaccine as soon as the end of this year,” HHS Secretary Alex Azar said. “Depending on success in clinical trials, today’s agreement will enable the delivery of approximately 100 million doses of this vaccine to the American people.”

 status of the companies’ 2 COVID-19 vaccines. The BNT162b1 and BNT162b1 are the investigational vaccines given the go-ahead and is a joint research venture between the biopharmaceutical companies.

“We made the early decision to begin clinical work and large-scale manufacturing at our own risk to ensure that product would be available immediately if our clinical trials prove successful and an Emergency Use Authorization is granted,” Pfizer Chairman and CEO Albert Bourla said.

“We are honored to be a part of this effort to provide Americans access to protection from this deadly virus.”

 follows the UK’s decision to buy the two companies’ vaccine earlier this week.

The development shows just how fast the process of finding a COVID-19 vaccine is moving under the government’s Project Lightspeed vaccine approval program. Officials of the 2 companies said last week that they planned to take the FDA’s approval and run with it.

“The FDA’s decision to grant these two COVID-19 vaccine candidates Fast Track designation signifies an important milestone in the efforts to develop a safe and effective vaccine against SARS-CoV-2,” Peter Honig, senior vice president, Global Regulatory Affairs, Pfizer, said last week. “We look forward to continue working closely with the FDA throughout the clinical development of this program, Project Lightspeed, to evaluate the safety and efficacy of these vaccine candidates.”

Project Lightspeed is based on BioNTech’s proprietary mRNA-based technology platforms and supported by Pfizer’s global vaccine development capabilities. The vaccine candidates are undergoing clinical studies and are not currently approved for distribution anywhere in the world.

“We are pleased to have received Fast Track designation from the FDA for two of our vaccine candidates and look forward to working closely with the FDA, along with our partner Pfizer, to expedite the clinical development path forward,” Chief Medical Officer Özlem Türeci at BioNTech reiterated.

As this is breaking news, stay tuned for future developments.

The U.S. government will pay Pfizer and BioNTech $1.95 billion upon the receipt of the first 100 million doses, following US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) authorization or approval. The U.S. government also can acquire up to an additional 500 million doses.


US Government Buying 100 Million Doses of COVID-19 Vaccine

The search for a vaccine to for coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) got a push from the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) yesterday when the agency granted fast track status for 2 products under development. The agency gave the go-ahead to Pfizer and Biopharmaceutical New Technologies (BioNTech) for the investigational vaccines BNT162b1 and BNT162b1. The vaccines are the result of a joint research venture between the biopharmaceutical companies.

BNT162b1 and BNT162b2 are the two most advanced vaccine candidates in the 2 companies’ BNT162 program currently being evaluated in ongoing Phase 1/2 clinical studies in the US and Germany.

“The FDA’s decision to grant these two COVID-19 vaccine candidates Fast Track designation signifies an important milestone in the efforts to develop a safe and effective vaccine against SARS-CoV-2,” Peter Honig, senior vice president, Global Regulatory Affairs, Pfizer, said. “We look forward to continue working closely with the FDA throughout the clinical development of this program, Project Lightspeed, to evaluate the safety and efficacy of these vaccine candidates.”

Project Lightspeed is a vaccine development program, which is based on BioNTech’s proprietary mRNA-based technology platforms and supported by Pfizer’s global vaccine development capabilities. The BNT162 vaccine candidates are undergoing clinical studies and are not currently approved for distribution anywhere in the world.

Pfizer and BioNTech are developing these novel vaccines with pre-clinical and clinical data at the forefront of all decision-making of both companies.

Along with the development and manufacture of health care products, including medicines, Pfizer has a well-established footprint in vaccines.

BioNTech is an immunotherapy company working on novel therapies for cancer and other serious diseases.

The companies are expecting to start a Phase 2b/3 trial possibly later this month and are anticipating enrolling up to 30,000 subjects.

According to the companies’ joint release, if the ongoing studies are successful, and the vaccine candidate receives regulatory approval, the companies currently expect to manufacture up to 100 million doses by the end of 2020 and potentially more than 1.2 billion doses by the end of 2021.

Biopharmaceutical New Technologies (BioNTech) for the investigational vaccines BNT162b1 and BNT162b1. The vaccines are the result of a joint research venture between Pfizer and Biopharmaceutical New Technologies (BioNTech).

Author | John Parkinson

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Experts Forcefully Push Back on Barrington Declaration

US Government Buying 100 Million Doses of COVID-19 Vaccine

2 Possible COVID-19 Vaccines Given Fast-Track Status