Why have we not heard any more about vaccine/treatment

[SpongeCake23]

All seems to have gone quiet.
I thought we’d have heard something more by now.

There’s been a lot of articles in the last few days about the Moderna vaccine trials and one that China are developing that they believe has a 99% chance of working.....
Oxford here have said they think theirs only has a 50% chance of getting a result because there aren’t enough cases in the community to be able to test it properly.
I think unfortunately that there just isn’t a lot to hear! Because a lot of the trial work is boring and there’s not much to talk about.

Oxford made it clear that they wouldn't be given a daily commentary on their progress. The most recent update they gave just 2 weeks ago now is that they have moved onto phase 2/3 trials meaning they are now looking for 10,000 participants which includes older people and children. They appear to be moving things along very quickly as the phase 1 trial offered some positive outcomes with regards to safety which now enables them to step things up with numbers. They are working weekends and bank holidays so they are very much focused on these trials.

To increase the chances above 50%, Oxford are in later stages of negotiations to trial this vaccine in other countries where the cases are higher so that they can eliminate the need to have to extend the trial by more months. They have a good reputation, so I believe countries will be more than happy to help assist.

If you check the Jenner Institute website or their twitter they post important updates with regards to the trial and people/companies they are partnering with to develop and manufacture this vaccine.

Professor Adrian Hill, one of the principal investigator for the vaccine, done a really good webinar detailing the development from trials in animals to where we are at now. For a non-scientist like me, it was very clear and informative. I find what he said very reassuring and gave me a lot of hope for this vaccine working.

What do you want them to say? If there is no news there is no news. Sometimes there IS no treatment or vaccine possible for a disease. We are so used to medicine having all the answers. It doesn’t

They're too busy working on the vaccine to spend time constantly updating people on their progress, especially when the media will just twist anything they say. Better to wait until there is actual news - good or bad.

Oxford here have said they think theirs only has a 50% chance of getting a result because there aren’t enough cases in the community to be able to test it properly.
The whole idea of testing in the community is too 'hit and miss' The only way to test thoroughly is to expose the vaccinated volunteers to infected patients for a few hours. That way the testers know that they have definitely met up with the virus. It would be quick and effective.
Sending volunteers out into the community for a six week period is too vague and too time consuming. The whole process should be as quick as possible so that the Oxford vaccine scientists can move on to the next stage.

It's too unethical to do that when they have no treatment yet. That's why they are considering going to countries where the community rate is still high.

I thought that the animal trials of the oxford vaccine were less positive than they hoped - it reduced incidence of pneumonia, which was good, but didn't stop the animals getting it. And there are other reasons that people die than just pneumonia.

I read somewhere (can't remember where now, sorry) that the American vaccine was showing better initial results. And China perhaps.

I hope that there is international cooperation so that they do end up going for the one that seems best, and not pushing the British one if it doesn't end up as good, just because it's British or they're geared up to make it in large quantities etc. Obviously large quantities of a less good one are better than smaller/no quantities of the other, but still. I don't want nationalism to get in the way, and I fear it might.

You're probably just not reading the right sources, OP.
Britain is currently involved in trials for a number of drug treatments, but they're not usually covered in the press. I guess they have more exciting stories to cover.

There aren't exciting things happening daily in vaccine and treatment development. There is nothing to report at the moment.

OP if you want to keep updated on progress in the vaccine/treatment fields then you could try the covid-19 subreddit. They're collecting most of the research on there.

You're not going to get daily updates on any medical developments. Even at the accelerated pace a vaccine is being developed, it's still a slow process. But there are a number of vaccines in development - 100 I think - and some have shown positive results. Sinovac in China appear very optimistic, and a Russian team have had encouraging results from initial tests. In the US, the Moderna vaccine also seems to be very promising. Even allowing that some on the various scientific teams may be 'talking up' their project, I do think there is cause for cautious optimism.

What would be reported? It's a slow process not something where there are daily breakthroughs.

Better to wait for some solid proven solutions that have regular false dawn's.

They should try out the vaccines on all the protesters right now in the US...

Comenext Fucks sake - nobody should expect volunteers to agree to being deliberately exposed to a virus that there's no cure / proven treatment for.

Participants for the current stages of the Oxford vaccine trial are being recruited within the NHS as they are assumed to have more exposure to Covid-19.

@raviolidreaming

Comenext Fucks sake - nobody should expect volunteers to agree to being deliberately exposed to a virus that there's no cure / proven treatment for.

Participants for the current stages of the Oxford vaccine trial are being recruited within the NHS as they are assumed to have more exposure to Covid-19.

Not just the NHS but in the wider population too. My trust is currently recruiting for staff but also for non-staff too. So please if people want to participate and you don't work for the NHS you are still able to.

OP, this brings us up to date www.telegraph.co.uk/global-health/science-and-disease/oxford-trial-covid-19-coronavirus-vaccine/

Char2015 thanks for the clarification on that 👍

Thanks for this thread, I've just found the local recruitment page, and have signed up for the Oxford vaccine trial initial screening.

It's still being tested; my pal had the vaccine last week. It usually takes years to develop a vaccine.

I don’t think there’s going to be a treatment, ever. There are no cures for a lot of viruses: colds, chicken pox, HIV (OK there are drugs to control HIV but they aren’t a cure), measles etc.

I think it’s misleading to say that we are waiting for a cure. No cure is coming in my opinion.

On the other hand, a vaccine is feasible and within the realms of our medical expertise. We have flu vaccines, measles vaccines etc. This takes time and it is necessary to check safety before injecting it into basically all the humans on the planet!

vac-lshtm.shinyapps.io/ncov_vaccine_landscape/ This is the covid vaccine tracker from the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine. It says there are 12 candidate vaccines currently in human trials and 164 in pre-clinical development.

Treatment and cure arent the same thing. There isn't a "cure" for flu but there is a treatment (tamiflu) - it doesnt stop you having flu but it can make symptoms less severe. Something like that could be really useful for those vulnerable to covid 19