Vaccines Fuck Yeah
October 3, 2023 10:17 AM Subscribe
In major news in the fight against malaria, the World Health Organization has approved the R21 vaccine - which can be produced cheaply at scale.
Researchers from the University of Chicago have made promising discoveries with the concept of an "inverse vaccine" that could potentially help treat autoimmune diseases by targeted reduction of immune response.
Finally, in an honor that was expected but nonetheless well earned, this year's Nobel Prize in Medicine goes to the researchers who created the mRNA technology that gave us vaccines against COVID-19 with more to come.
Researchers from the University of Chicago have made promising discoveries with the concept of an "inverse vaccine" that could potentially help treat autoimmune diseases by targeted reduction of immune response.
Finally, in an honor that was expected but nonetheless well earned, this year's Nobel Prize in Medicine goes to the researchers who created the mRNA technology that gave us vaccines against COVID-19 with more to come.
just because: VACCINES FUCK YEAH!!!!!
it drives me crazy that in a single human lifetime we have made such absolutely incredible strides against so many diseases and now people who never grew up under the fear of polio or small pox just not getting these safe and effective vaccines. not just anti-vax deniers either. I have a friend who didn't get the covid vax because she did her own research (is she a doctor? a scientist? why, no...) vaccines are the absolute superheroes of our world.
posted by supermedusa at 10:25 AM on October 3, 2023 [13 favorites]
it drives me crazy that in a single human lifetime we have made such absolutely incredible strides against so many diseases and now people who never grew up under the fear of polio or small pox just not getting these safe and effective vaccines. not just anti-vax deniers either. I have a friend who didn't get the covid vax because she did her own research (is she a doctor? a scientist? why, no...) vaccines are the absolute superheroes of our world.
posted by supermedusa at 10:25 AM on October 3, 2023 [13 favorites]
as I commented on Imgur, I was very stoked about getting the mRNA vax since I could understand its antigen delivery mechanism just from my high school Bio II class 40 years prior.
posted by Heywood Mogroot III at 10:27 AM on October 3, 2023 [5 favorites]
posted by Heywood Mogroot III at 10:27 AM on October 3, 2023 [5 favorites]
'do your own research' = 'confirm your own priors' and/or 'break your own brain'
when the zone is flooded with shit, Caveat investigator
posted by Heywood Mogroot III at 10:30 AM on October 3, 2023 [3 favorites]
when the zone is flooded with shit, Caveat investigator
posted by Heywood Mogroot III at 10:30 AM on October 3, 2023 [3 favorites]
You know what else is used to help control malaria's spread?
Uh-huh.
(Which is a case of it being used for something that it's actually useful for, but this will drive the conspiracy theorists at your Thanksgiving dinner table insane.)
posted by delfin at 10:31 AM on October 3, 2023 [3 favorites]
Uh-huh.
(Which is a case of it being used for something that it's actually useful for, but this will drive the conspiracy theorists at your Thanksgiving dinner table insane.)
posted by delfin at 10:31 AM on October 3, 2023 [3 favorites]
This is not just great news - this is THREE wallops of great news!
Thank you so much for linking and sharing all of these, NoxAeternum.
I am grateful EVERY DAY for vaccines.
posted by kristi at 10:51 AM on October 3, 2023 [7 favorites]
Thank you so much for linking and sharing all of these, NoxAeternum.
I am grateful EVERY DAY for vaccines.
posted by kristi at 10:51 AM on October 3, 2023 [7 favorites]
I needed some good news today, and a scalable, lower-cost malaria vaccine is really good news. Vaccines fuck yeah!
posted by EvaDestruction at 11:12 AM on October 3, 2023 [5 favorites]
posted by EvaDestruction at 11:12 AM on October 3, 2023 [5 favorites]
this is good and all but i worry that preventing diseases that use mosquitoes as vectors will sap our enthusiasm for the true goal of killing all mosquitoes
posted by logicpunk at 11:51 AM on October 3, 2023 [15 favorites]
posted by logicpunk at 11:51 AM on October 3, 2023 [15 favorites]
Vaccines rule! I just got COVID, Flu, and Shingles. I'm happy that I'm finally old enough to get the shingles vaccine, because fuck shingles. Give me all the vaccines! Yay science!
posted by Eddie Mars at 12:34 PM on October 3, 2023 [4 favorites]
posted by Eddie Mars at 12:34 PM on October 3, 2023 [4 favorites]
More details on the malaria vaccine R21 here. It is cheaper by a factor of about 3, and a bit more effective (at 70-80%) than the existing vaccine. Note effectiveness is over a baseline of preventive drugs, not placebo.
Won't make malaria a non-issue but could help countless lives. Manufacturing capacity by the Indian partner is about 100 million doses a year currently, which is I assume way below demand. (I mean demand in the common sense way, not the economist's "people who can afford it" sense.)
The Nobel prize is well deserved and made a bit sweeter because the Hungarian recipient really championed this against skepticism for years, partly by promoting young scientists also researching this. The skeptics had many reasons, but nice to see her vindicated given how much she's improved my life personally! Also there's an asshole named Malone who made some contributions to this research 30 years ago who's been claiming he "invented" the vaccines and is overlooked. He is now officially snubbed. (As is always the case in science, plenty of people contributed before and after his work.) Plenty of writeups available if you want to google him; it's entertaining to read in the same way r/hobbydrama is.
On the last one: Thereapeutic vaccines are the subject of a ton of active research in pharma and academia both and my default reaction to a new paper is mostly, oh, it's a new paper.
posted by mark k at 12:37 PM on October 3, 2023 [5 favorites]
Won't make malaria a non-issue but could help countless lives. Manufacturing capacity by the Indian partner is about 100 million doses a year currently, which is I assume way below demand. (I mean demand in the common sense way, not the economist's "people who can afford it" sense.)
The Nobel prize is well deserved and made a bit sweeter because the Hungarian recipient really championed this against skepticism for years, partly by promoting young scientists also researching this. The skeptics had many reasons, but nice to see her vindicated given how much she's improved my life personally! Also there's an asshole named Malone who made some contributions to this research 30 years ago who's been claiming he "invented" the vaccines and is overlooked. He is now officially snubbed. (As is always the case in science, plenty of people contributed before and after his work.) Plenty of writeups available if you want to google him; it's entertaining to read in the same way r/hobbydrama is.
On the last one: Thereapeutic vaccines are the subject of a ton of active research in pharma and academia both and my default reaction to a new paper is mostly, oh, it's a new paper.
posted by mark k at 12:37 PM on October 3, 2023 [5 favorites]
this is good and all but i worry that preventing diseases that use mosquitoes as vectors will sap our enthusiasm for the true goal of killing all mosquitoes
never
posted by supermedusa at 1:37 PM on October 3, 2023 [4 favorites]
never
posted by supermedusa at 1:37 PM on October 3, 2023 [4 favorites]
Woot!
We've been cutting down malaria cases for decades, hopefully this will be a huge leap forward.
posted by sotonohito at 1:58 PM on October 3, 2023
We've been cutting down malaria cases for decades, hopefully this will be a huge leap forward.
posted by sotonohito at 1:58 PM on October 3, 2023
For the first time in history, malaria bugs trying to infect toddlers in Ghana and Nigeria are running into vaccinated immune systems. At the risk of anthropomorphism, I wonder if there's any biochemical response one could analogize to shock or outrage. It's not fair, you can imagine a distressed organelle signifying as the antibodies cut it to ribbons, the little ones are supposed to be defenseless. That's humankind, always changing the rules.
posted by officer_fred at 3:28 PM on October 3, 2023 [1 favorite]
posted by officer_fred at 3:28 PM on October 3, 2023 [1 favorite]
this is great news, particularly with the ongoing concerns in recent years about mosquitos developing resistance to pyrethrin-only insecticidal bed nets. (that article is from 2016, and here is the latest 2023 Malaria Guidebook from the WHO, with recommendations for various multi-chemical nets)
posted by warreng at 10:40 PM on October 3, 2023
posted by warreng at 10:40 PM on October 3, 2023
This past year, the CDC has added a vaccine for dengue to be given to children in endemic areas (Puerto Rico).
posted by dances_with_sneetches at 11:42 AM on October 4, 2023 [4 favorites]
posted by dances_with_sneetches at 11:42 AM on October 4, 2023 [4 favorites]
A vaccine against tuberculosis, the world’s deadliest infectious disease, has never been closer to reality, with the potential to save millions of lives. But its development slowed after its corporate owner [GSK] focused on more profitable vaccines. (ProPublica, Oct. 4, 2023) ... the shingles vaccine shared a key ingredient with the TB shot, a component that enhanced the effectiveness of both but was in limited supply.
From a business standpoint, GSK’s decision made sense. Shingrix would become what the company calls a “crown jewel,” raking in more than $14 billion since 2018.
posted by Iris Gambol at 3:02 PM on October 4, 2023 [1 favorite]
From a business standpoint, GSK’s decision made sense. Shingrix would become what the company calls a “crown jewel,” raking in more than $14 billion since 2018.
posted by Iris Gambol at 3:02 PM on October 4, 2023 [1 favorite]
Vaccines fuccc...yeah i got my covid yesterday and feeling a bit smooshed
posted by supermedusa at 3:29 PM on October 5, 2023
posted by supermedusa at 3:29 PM on October 5, 2023
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So...vaccines fuck yeah!
posted by NoxAeternum at 10:19 AM on October 3, 2023 [38 favorites]