That’s Cold

It could be worse. Imagine this mammoth covid surge was happening at a time when we were also getting bad news about prospective vaccines. There’s a light at the end of the tunnel. Don’t let short term thinking, or rampant political stupidity, block it out. Here’s a great overview of these brand new kinds of vaccines, and why RNA is best served cold. NPR: Why Does Pfizer’s COVID-19 Vaccine Need To Be Kept Colder Than Antarctica? “Think of the vaccine as a chocolate bar that melts easily. Just as there are ways to keep the chocolate from melting into goo, there are things the drugmakers did to protect their COVID-19 vaccines. The first step, Liu says, was to modify the mRNA nucleosides — the ‘building blocks’ of the RNA vaccine. ‘They’ve used modified versions because those are more stable,’ she says. This would be like changing the chocolate recipe so it’s not quite so melty. The next step was to use lipid nanoparticles, which, Liu explains, ‘is kind of like putting your chocolate inside a candy coating — you have an M&M, so the chocolate doesn’t melt.'” The fix is coming. But that will be cold comfort for those who refuse to face the cold hard truth and give a cold shoulder to social events; and that means going cold turkey on Thanksgiving gatherings.

+ In the latest poll, fifty-eight percent of Americans say they would get a COVID-19 vaccine, up from a low of 50% in September.