Those scientists at the Oxford vaccine project are bloody heroes

[Jedi boro]

Watching that tonight was a real insight into just how much work they put into it.

Hopefully those that were uncertain before will now realise that it is safe to take and it is the way out of this nightmare.

Brilliant stuff


Bloody heroes the lot of them.

 

[rob_fmttm]

It is phenomenal what they have achieved and for the world - as they said not just towns in Britain but villages in this country and Africa etc.

 

[coluka]

The not for profit agreement is a life saver to much of the worlds population in itself. Well done one and all

 

[Ingleby_Flash]

They designed the vaccine within days in January - amazing.

 

[Liamo]

They designed the vaccine within days in January - amazing.

And Ugur Sahin, the co-founder of BioNTech, designed their vaccine in a few hours - equally amazing:

Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine designed in hours

As this article points out, asking why these vaccines could be developed so quickly compared to the past, is a little bit like asking why we can cross the Atlantic in a few hours now, when it used to take weeks in the 1800's. New technologies tend to make things much quicker.

 

[Linthorpe_Exile]

What struck me was that they were discussing the vaccine a long time before the country did anything to mitigate the spread of the virus - think Cheltenham and the match at Anfield for example.

 

[The_Big_Woodowski]

What struck me was that they were discussing the vaccine a long time before the country did anything to mitigate the spread of the virus - think Cheltenham and the match at Anfield for example.

I thought the same. They knew how it would likely spread in Jan 20, but never took any preventative measures until it was out of control. I wonder why , likely to never see an answer to that

 

[Malaguena]

And Ugur Sahin, the co-founder of BioNTech, designed their vaccine in a few hours - equally amazing:

Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine designed in hours

As this article points out, asking why these vaccines could be developed so quickly compared to the past, is a little bit like asking why we can cross the Atlantic in a few hours now, when it used to take weeks in the 1800's. New technologies tend to make things much quicker.

So presumably we'll see all new drugs come to market in this timescale now ?

 

[Maccarone]

These guys are just so clever, thank you for them all and the life changing work they do.
Just amazing

 

[HundredRoom]

Not a big advocate of the honours system but these people are truly worthy of some kind of recognition.

Deep respect for all the volunteers too. Without them we would also be lost.
And for those that developed and volunteered well can't find words

When you see the likes of selfish sportsmen and theatre luvvies being fawned over for what they do it is deeply troubling. On top of which they are usually tax dodging , living in Monaco
buying private jets and avoiding VAT. etc.

 

[HundredRoom]

They designed the vaccine within days in January - amazing.

It kind of gives faith that we can develop vaccines against anything new that comes at us. Its the testing that takes the time.
As for these people spreading nonsense on forums such as volunteers dying its the equivalent of wearside Jack.

 

[A]

It kind of gives faith that we can develop vaccines against anything new that comes at us. Its the testing that takes the time.
As for these people spreading nonsense on forums such as volunteers dying its the equivalent of wearside Jack.

and the Facebook 'Karens' who make unfounded claims about how dangerous the 'unproven' vaccine is because we don't know what's in it, etc. Meanwhile she buys 40 burgers for £2 from Farm Foods and yet somehow is an expert on what we should or should not put into our bodies

 

[Matt]

So presumably we'll see all new drugs come to market in this timescale now ?

Any drugs that have had their processes or associated technologies improved then I'm sure their development speed would be increased compared to the previous technology yes - and this has probably been happening for decades already you just have no knowledge of it - because why would you? But obviously advances in technology might only affect certain areas of development (i.e. only for specific drugs, or types of drug, or drugs that share similar production processes) and not necessarily all drugs everywhere.

The same could be said of things like cars, I'm sure they are able to build a lot more cars per day nowadays than in the 70s for example because of improved production line technology. This might also be transferable in some ways to things like trains, boats and helicopters - but not at all to things like producing bread or bottled water (which may have undertaken their own technological advancements).

Also it's worth noting that the technology used in creating these vaccines has been developed from around the time of the SARS epidemic (around 15 years I think) precisely for this kind of situation, so although it hasn't been used before, they have been ready and waiting for a while now and this isn't "from start to finish in 9 months", this is over a decades worth of development, years of waiting, and then the final bit (which is the visible bit) in a (seemingly) very short amount of time.

 

[zzzzz]

and the Facebook 'Karens' who make unfounded claims about how dangerous the 'unproven' vaccine is because we don't know what's in it, etc. Meanwhile she buys 40 burgers for £2 from Farm Foods and yet somehow is an expert on what we should or should not put into our bodies

Well said. Boils my ****. Everyone is entitled to their opinion but when it has a real effect on others they should keep uneducated personal opinions to themselves. The vulnerable see some of these vocal fruitcakes mouth off and take some of it on board.

 

[Matt]

It kind of gives faith that we can develop vaccines against anything new that comes at us. Its the testing that takes the time.
As for these people spreading nonsense on forums such as volunteers dying its the equivalent of wearside Jack.

I believe the technology behind the Oxford vaccine was developed in such a way that the virus specific part of what is injected can be swapped out to target another virus - so in theory we could take the same approach to the next epidemic virus. I'm not sure if this vaccine is specific to a Coronavirus or not tho...

 

[masquesmog]

So presumably we'll see all new drugs come to market in this timescale now ?

.... not necessarily. There were at least two other factors in the mix here. Guaranteed sales - I understand the number of doses ordered was being paid for, whether or not it worked. Also, normally in pharma companies there are a lot of competing projects. So things that start to look more commercially attractive can lower priority for those that aren't. This was more or less removed for the Covid vaccines.

And, of course, emergency use authorisation won't always be an acceptable initial outcome for the pharma company, or the regulators.

 

[h_m_boro]

From day one the pharma companies took their best people, give them a pretty much unlimited budget, and said "sort this". Generally they have, say, a dozen or so scientists working on a vaccine with a set budget.......hence why things take so long. Don't think the average Karen appreciates the resources the pharma companies have ploughed into getting this vaccine in double/treble/quadruple quick time. Not all for humanitarian reasons, but still the turnaround has been pretty amazing

 

[HundredRoom]

The woman with blonde hair , sorry didn't pick up on her name, came across as a real character. She was professor of something but had a bar maid lets be having yer twang. Superb.

 

[red_harrington]

Before popular culture took over in the '60s, scientists were respected and admired and were often lauded in the press for their discoveries & inventions.

But for the past few decades they have been poorly paid and referred to by the same press as 'mad scientists' & 'boffins' with their 'Frankenstein food', 'E numbers' and 'dangerous chemicals'

Yet they're the brainy ones who continue to cure illness, develop technology and improve our lives; the press meanwhile give their adulation to entertainers & meaningless celebs instead.