Vaxxers: A Pioneering Moment in Scientific History

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Chimpanzee Adenovirus: Bet you didn't know that! They used an adenovirus common in chimpanzees but not present in humans. Why? Well if they use an adenovirus common in humans, the virus would be wiped out before the body had a chance to make an immune response to the spike protein it is carrying. So we use a weakened chimpanzee one to allow the body a chance to recognise the spike protein and start making antibodies. If you do nothing, you will be auto-enrolled in our premium digital monthly subscription plan and retain complete access for 65 € per month. Those who invent wild inaccuracies about vaccines – some politically funded – are a problem because they make a much larger number of normal people uncertain about life-saving jabs. There have been too few vaxxers explaining how real people, not faceless elites, devise and make the things. Few can explain that better than these two, and this book is the tale of how the Oxford-AstraZeneca Covid vaccine was designed, grown, purified and produced, reliably and in millions of doses, under the extreme pressure of a pandemic. It’s a gripping yarn. One theory attributes growing vaccine hesitancy to the rise of misinformation and conspiracy theories emanating from the anti-vaxx movement. In 1840, when the Vaccination Act was introduced in the UK, the now familiar arguments were aired: vaccines cause harm; the alliance between medical science and government is driven by profit; vaccinations are an infringement of basic civil liberties; healthy lifestyles and homeopathic medicines provide better alternatives.

An enthralling tale of toil, tenacity and triumph ... The world needs all the Sarah Gilberts and Catherine Greens it can get. Just brilliant. On 1 January 2020, Sarah Gilbert, Professor of Vaccinology at Oxford University, read an article about four people in China with a strange pneumonia. Within two weeks, she and her team had designed a vaccine against a pathogen that no one had ever seen before. Less than 12 months later, vaccination was rolled out across the world to save millions of lives from Covid-19.Books describing great scientific advancements tend to be somewhat dry and functional: the authors of Vaxxers come out from behind their benches, explaining the science in terms of their professional struggles and, refreshingly, their quotidian personal lives. It makes for a most accessible read. It’s inspiring to read this relatively humble account of two fantastic role models who were involved in such an incredible scientific accomplishment against the odds, who speak with such wit and heart. I think it’s easy to feel you know everything there is to know about the covid vaccines after such extensive news coverage, but this book showed me how much I don’t know, which I think was very important.

The endgame is polarisation, confusion and distrust via the tactic of what the historians Naomi Oreskes and Erik Conway referred to in their 2010 book as “merchandising doubt”. Social media companies are increasingly being held accountable for risking public health and taking measures to halt the spread of disinformation on their platforms. Beyond monitoring and silencing these groups, our strongest weapon is to inoculate the general public against the infodemic by empowering them to spot and report misinformation. Urgent and fascinating ... A tale of hard work and victory against steep odds, a unique insight into vaccines generally ... A gripping yarn ... I dare anyone to read this and not come away impressed. - Guardian

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knygą parašė dvi mokslininkės, kurios ir išrado Astra Zeneca vakciną. Kaip naktim nemiegojo, kiek velniavos praėjo, kiek žmonių prie to dirbo ir t.t. Nu labai gera knyga. Atsako į absoliučiai visus klausimus: Sarah Gilbert and Catherine Green, with their individual chapters, explain their part in the preparation of a vaccine for a virus that changed our lives in more ways than I can count. The details of the technology employed and the process involved in vaccine preparation (which were outlined with helpful explanations) demonstrated that the world was in fact not in a standstill (as it felt to me) in 2020; it is a literal testament to human effort and cooperation. For every vaccine that makes it to licensure, there are many that never get beyond proof of concept, let alone to the clinical trial stage. Research groups, like the one Gilbert heads at the Jenner, are like small businesses or charities, with scientists lurching from one project to another on insecure, short-term contracts. Indeed, it is impossible to read Vaxxers without coming away with a newfound respect for Gilbert and Green’s ability to juggle multiple tasks while sounding coherent in front of the TV cameras after another sleepless night wondering where the funding for the next stage of their research will come from. And that’s before you get to the UK’s controversial decision (subsequently vindicated) to extend the interval between the first and second jabs to 12 weeks, or the unfavourable comparisons in the US biotech press between AstraZeneca’s efficacy results and those of the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines.

Chosen as a Book of the Year 2021 by the Financial Times, Sunday Times, Daily Mail, Prospect, Guardian and The Times. One of the most epic and pioneering moments in human history, comparable to the race to put a man on the moon, the discovery of DNA, or the first ascent of Everest. The Oxford AstraZeneca vaccine is a triumph and its creators are life savers. Berman, an assistant professor of basic science at an osteopathic medical school, explores the history of anti-vaccine movements and how best to counter them. Such movements, he finds, share beliefs and features: wariness of government control, distrust of the medical establishment and its products, false claims about vaccines (often made by people with economic interests), and unfounded fears of harm, spread by misinformation and social media. Those most vulnerable to such claims are often parents trying to decide what is best for their children’s health. Rather than learning from reliable sources why childhood vaccines are necessary to protect both individuals and the population as a whole from infections, they may receive unreliable information from others in their community who oppose vaccination . . . Berman’s advice on how to talk with people who are uncertain about vaccinating their children is enlightening and practical.”In retrospect, this was a mistake. It would also be a mistake in the future, not least because, as Gilbert and Green make clear, Covid-19 is not the last pandemic the world is likely to face and, even with better funding, vaccines will always be playing catch-up with a virus. Vaksin Oxford-AstraZeneca dikembangkan oleh Universitas Oxford dan kemudian diproduksi massal dan didistribusikan atas kerjasama dengan perusahaan biofarmasi, AstraZeneca. Oleh karena vaksin ini dikembangkan oleh sebuah laboratorium riset di dalam sebuah universitas, pembaca juga disuguhkan proses demi proses yang dihadapinya, tidak hanya hal-hal teknis seperti penelitian di laboratorium, tetapi juga hal-hal non-teknis yang tidak kalah substantif seperti pengajuan hibah. Penolakan, suasana "harap-harap cemas", kebahagiaan, mewarnai proses-proses tersebut. Sarah Gilbert, who created the Oxford AstraZeneca vaccine with Catherine Green. Photograph: John Cairns/University of Oxford/PA