20 Burst results for "Angela Rasmussen"
Bloomberg Radio New York
"angela rasmussen" Discussed on Bloomberg Radio New York
"It's the big tape from Bloomberg news and iHeartRadio. I'm west Kosovo. Today, how we're preparing or not for bearing for the next global pandemic. The coronavirus pandemic may not be over. Just look at the deadly surge in China right now. But in the U.S. and many other parts of the world, it's no longer as front of mind. And if we're all breathing a tentative sigh of relief, virologists and public policy officials are already starting to look ahead to the next pandemic. And making sure we don't get caught so flat footed when. Not if it happens again. So how do we prepare to fight off a possible threat we know nothing about? When we're still struggling to keep on top of the one, that's right in front of us. Here to answer that question is doctor Angela Rasmussen. She's a virologist at the university of Saskatchewan's vaccine and infectious disease organization, and she has spent years studying the emergence of avian flu, Ebola, and of course, COVID-19. Doctor Rasmussen, thanks so much for being here. Thanks so much for having me, Wes. Angie, as someone who thinks about pandemics a lot. I'm going to ask you maybe an unfair question just to start. We're not done with this one yet, but where do you think the next one comes from? Well, I mean, I think the next one probably comes from someplace similar to where this one came from. And that is our increasing interactions increasing encroachment on animals on wild spaces in places where people either haven't been before or in places where we're using the land potentially in different ways, interacting with nature
NPR's Story of the Day
"angela rasmussen" Discussed on NPR's Story of the Day
"Unvaccinated people as she discussed the rise in cases and arkansas governor asa hutchinson also a republican who told people in his state that they're losing ground to the delta variant. They're all trying to nudge people to get vaccinated but a new eight. Peephole found that eighty percent of people who have yet to be vaccinated. Say they probably won't get the shots. Still dr anthony foul cheese. They did again yesterday on cnn. Vaccination is the best defense. You were vaccinated. The vaccine is highly protective against the delta variant particularly against severe disease leading to hospitalization. You know it's still possible to get infected with the virus after your vaccinated but it's much more likely to be a mild case. In fact recent evidence from the uk found an mr vaccine to be ninety six percent effective against hospitalization and death and still in the past couple of days. We keep hearing about breakthrough cases where people have the vaccine but cove at any way. Some of them are getting a lot of attention. because it's like at the white house olympic athletes. How worrying are the breakthrough cases to public health officials. You know there is such a big difference. Noel between testing positive as we've seen with these olympic athletes and ending up sick or hospitalized spoke to virologist angela rasmussen of the university of saskatchewan. She says the vaccines are doing exactly what they're supposed to do. Significantly reducing the risk of serious illness. But they're not one hundred percent effective and it wasn't realistic to expect that the virus which is simply disappear so if you were vaccinated you can still become infected. That doesn't mean that you're going to get sick though because the way that the vaccines work is they're able to muster a very potent very powerful immune response as soon as you are exposed to that virus though even if you do get infected that infection is going to be contained and rapidly cleared before it can make you sick that how the vaccines work out of one hundred sixty three million people who've been fully vaccinated in the us in fact the cdc has received about fifty five hundred reports of breakthrough infections. That have led to hospitalization or death. So that is very rare but who is it. Who is it occurring too sure. Yeah i mean the. Cdc has found seventy five percent of the patients are over. The age of sixty five most have complications for instance transplant patients. Cancer patients people with weakened immune systems. Dr raji spoke about this yesterday on cnn. To saying immune compromise people may benefit from a booster shot. He said data from israel suggests immunity can begin to wane six months or so after vaccination the data that's evolving from israel and from pfizer in the crates that it looks like there might be some diminution in protection and when you have that the most vulnerable people who have suppressed immune system. Those who are transplant patients cancer chemotherapy. Autoimmune diseases those are the kind of individuals that if there's going to be a third boost which might likely happen. We'll be among i the vulnerable. He says moore should be known about a booster strategy. Soon and in the meantime some places are reinstituting. The mask mandate for people. Who have the vaccine saint. Louis is doing it today. We know that l. a. did it last week i think. Do you believe we'll see more of this. You know. I think there will be more of this. And more importantly many public health officials say even if there's not a mandate in your area masking and crowded. Indoor spaces makes spent sense. I mean especially if you live in area where cases are on the rise significantly and as a new school year approaches even though cdc guidance is that vaccinated students don't need to be mass pediatrician. Say there is a strong case for uniform mandatory masking. I spoke to judy guzman cottrell. She's a pediatric infectious disease doctor at oregon health and science university about this when i talked to leaders of schools.
KIRO Radio 97.3 FM
"angela rasmussen" Discussed on KIRO Radio 97.3 FM
"Meeting President Biden is just hours away from his first in person sit down with Russian President Vladimir Putin. CBS is Stephen Portnoy reports. The president's agenda for this summit is long. Aides say he intends to raise a range of issues. Related to Russia's bad actions under Putin. Well, he's a master of malign activities. But Rose Gottemoeller, a lecturer at Stanford University and a former top NATO official says there's also an opportunity here for the two men to see eye to eye. We have mutual positive impressed that we need to work on, such as making sure that Afghanistan does not collapse and making sure that nuclear weapons continue to be in a process of limitation and control. 600,000 covid deaths. We learn local public health doctors are monitoring of more contagious strain of the virus and radios. Heather Bash has more on what you should know about the Delta variant. The delta strain has doctors concerned because it spreads more quickly than other covid 19 variants. It also, unfortunately, is pretty good at infecting people who have only been partially vaccinated. So, Dr Angela Rasmussen tells Cairo radios G and Ursula It's important to make sure you get both your covid. Shots. What if you took the one Does Johnson and Johnson vaccine, Rasmussen says it is possible you'd be more susceptible to breakthrough cases testing positive even after you've been vaccinated, but you'd still be protected from becoming severely ill. At least 170 cases of the Delta variants are confirmed in Washington. It was vaccine lottery Round two Today winner should be contacted tomorrow, including the $250,000 jackpot winner. The state says more than 100. Prices from last week's drawings went unclaimed. Those will be added to the final drawing next month. 5 33 real time traffic Now here's Tracy Taylor. Erin. I'm finding some slowing on.
KIRO Radio 97.3 FM
"angela rasmussen" Discussed on KIRO Radio 97.3 FM
"And 2021? Yeah. What about it? I just I just said they're all up way. Don't we don't know not not in every crime degree, not in every crime category. There's some crimes that happened some crimes. They're down violent crime, I think is up. Yes, but in other cases, it's not so to attribute that all too antagonistic attitude toward police, I think has been established yet. All right, Tracy to look at traffic. We're looking at a 34 minute drive from Olympia to Tacoma 45. Minutes from Tacoma to Olympia. And yeah, there's still a lot of heavy traffic on as South Today, five from Highway 18 to the dome and again as we kind of work our way out of liquid to joint base, Lewis McChord, You really don't break free until you get past the main gate drivers heading out on 5 12 are going to find a few spotty slowdowns between Steel Street in the canyon exiting again around the South Hill mall. Drivers continue to struggle over on the East side where south and four or five is still bumper to bumper through Bellevue, north and four old life slows and 85th and Kirkland. They're still working with the crash investigation that's on 4 10, and this is out near Myers Road in Bonney Lake, and it sounds like we have a crash that's reported on 12th Avenue, northeast North Northeast. I had rather 82nd That's reported blocking traffic is brought to you by Subaru Puyallup, Subaru Pula customers give them great reviews. Because Subaru Puyol this focused on making the customer experience stress free every time in their customers. Love it. Cairo Radio Real time traffic I'm Tracy Taylor. This hour of a Tom and curly show was brought to you, by MM Comfort Systems, the G and Ercel issue. It is time to bring in our favorite virologist Dr Angela Rasmussen. This is actually coming from 206. My 12 year old is due for his second shot next week. I'm nervous for him to get it. Is it safe? And should I be concerned?.
KIRO Radio 97.3 FM
"angela rasmussen" Discussed on KIRO Radio 97.3 FM
"Dr. Angela Rasmussen is here. Good morning, doctor. Good morning Earth unless we have a ton of questions for you, as you can imagine, with the approval now of the Fizer vaccine or almost the approval for kids ages 12 to 15. I'm gonna go right into some of the questions from our listeners. This is from a listener who says that her whole family is refusing to get the vaccine. They're using the excuse that there has not been enough research and they don't want to be test subjects, she says. She's trying to tell them it's not a brand new vaccine on Lee, some of it. But she doesn't have the background to explain exactly what's new and what's not in the vaccine. Please help. Yeah, This is a great question. And a lot of people have had this concern that because these vaccines are relatively new technologies to the market because they're only available currently under emergency use off use authorization rather than a full f years. Well, but they're still experimental, and that by taking one of these vaccines, you're getting an experimental product that hasn't been tested. But there's there's a couple things that are correct with the collar was saying that these technologies actually aren't that new. On Emma Rene vaccines and viral vector. Vaccines like Johnson and Johnson have actually been studied. For, I would say close to two decades in some cases. We really know how these vaccine technologies work. The only thing that's different about these is that they're specific for SARS coronavirus to rather than the other viruses that they've been tested for, But Emma Rene Vaccines, for example, have been developed for things like influenza. Things like Herpes virus is a very common viruses. They've been tested in people. Also actually been tested successfully for MERS coronavirus, which is a related virus. So these technologies are not new. What is new is that their specific deserve current virus to But that brings us to the process of FDA approval on emergency use authorization. The only thing that is sacrificed during the emergency use authorization process compared to a full FDA approval is being able to look at durability. So how long the protection last but otherwise these clinical trials were done. The exact same number of patients that we would normally look at the same statistical power. We are looking at the same type of safety and efficacy data in the short term. Um, long term. We know that most vaccine side effects occur within eight weeks of administration. So at this point, we also have quite a lot of safety data that supports using these vaccines. Hopefully, in all of that information that will be helpful in in color, persuading some of their family members to reconsider their position. Here's one Dr Rasmussen. They texted and says that my five year old was recently invited to a birthday party for a friend that goes to the same day care. It's only supposed to last an hour and my wife and I are fully vaccinated. Would it be OK to attend? Well, ideally, a party like that. Um, well, First of all, it is completely faith for those parents to attend, since they have been fully vaccinated. Fully vaccinated. People are safe to be in these situations, including around other unvaccinated people, but the risk potentially is for their child being indoor environment. For a prolonged period of time with other unvaccinated individuals which all the Children would be, even if all the adults were vaccinated. Could expose the Children to start current virus to and then they, in turn, could expose other unvaccinated family members. So if you are going to bring your kids to a party like that, my suggestion is just to do it outside. It's much safer when your type of environment outside You already have other safety measures in place, such as vaccinated adults, potentially unvaccinated people will be wearing asked if you do that, outside the risk is going to be much lower. We often get Questions that are similar to this next one. If vaccinations are so important and effective, why is my doctor requiring me to have to covert test on two weeks prior to scheduled surgery? Oh, that's that's a great question. And I think some of this um is t make sure that when somebody does have surgery that's been scheduled because it is stressful it hard on your body. That they're not also battling a viral infection when they go in for surgery, and I think this is really more and this is something I can't necessarily comments on because I'm not a physician, and I don't see patients. But this may just be the practice for clinic providing clinical care especially something that is higher risk like a surgery, making sure that the patient is also not fighting off a cove. It's a case of covert ah, long with the surgery that they're going to have to recover from. Are too restless and one of the things that I often say because I am fully vaccinated now, too, as his G and I know, oftentimes people will say Well, if you're if you've got both shots, why are you still worried? Or why will you still wear a mask? And I tried to explain that for me, it means That my chance of dying of cove. It is close to nil or basically or or getting it very seriously is close to nil. But there's still a chance is that correct? So there's there's always a chance. No vaccine is 100% protective against infection or against disease. But as more people become vaccinated, there are going to be fewer susceptible hosts who are completely susceptible to infection, which means that it's Other countries that have vaccinated a large number of their populations are any indication, we should start to see case numbers falling dramatically. As that happens As more people become vaccinated, we will be able to take our masks off safely and have the same, very, very negligible risk. Of contracting Cove in from the community. Just because there will be so few hosts that the virus can find that are hospitable for it's a replicated and spread around then That's why it is still important to emphasize that if you have not yet been vaccinated, you should absolutely get vaccinated because that is the way that we will get back to normality safely. What are this is a question from one of our listeners. What are the pre existing conditions that might compromise the effectiveness of the vaccine or to the contrary, might impact a person's health negatively? So in terms of impacting a person's health negatively, I'm not aware of any that creates risks for taking the vaccines. The biggest risk for the vaccine is that it might not be effective in some people and those they're generally people with immune suppressive conditions s. Oh, there is some data suggesting that the vaccines might be a little less effective in from HIV positive individuals. That's primarily data from South Africa in the context of the B 135 variant circulating, while several vaccine clinical trials were occurring there with large percentage is HIV positive. Trial. Part of depends here in the U. S. And in Europe, a study has come out showing that people who had organ transplants who are typically taking immuno suppressive drugs. Pretty pretty potent immuno suppressed drugs in most cases may not mount responses to the vaccines at all. Meaning that the vaccines won't offer protection to those people. And that's not particularly surprising because again they do take pretty potent immuno suppressive drugs to make sure that they can not reject their transplanted organs, which is obviously essential for them to live. Um, that's why again for people who are completely healthy who are not in, you know, compromise. It's really important that you get vaccinated because those other people who are already more vulnerable. Cannot enjoy the same protections from the vaccine. So we have to try to help them out of much as possible. So what are you and all of your friends in your industry? What do you What do you guys saying? I always used to ask you what us with some good news. What's what's happening now with Cove it and some good news around the country as we deal with covert..
NEWS 88.7
"angela rasmussen" Discussed on NEWS 88.7
"Cannot make the plea for due process. It is upto us to make the plea for due process. Authorities have released few details about what led to the shooting. The judge ruled last week that problems family would be allowed to see more of the body camera footage from that encounter, But the videos will not be made public for at least 30 days. More than half of adults in the United States have received at least one dose of a covert 19 vaccine. But it's NPR's Allison Aubrey reports, the pace of vaccinations is beginning to slow down. The number of vaccine shots given per day has trailed off a bit in recent days, and public health officials are focused on ways to make it more convenient. And to overcome hesitancy. The slowdown comes as a very end from India has been found in the U. S virologist Angela Rasmussen of the University of Saskatchewan and Georgetown University, says there are already variance with similar mutations in the U. S. She notes The plan to restrict travel from India to the United States could be helpful. It's important that we keep out new cases of SARS coronavirus, too. We really need to be focusing on what matters most right now. And that is vaccination. Beginning Tuesday, the U. S. Will restrict travel from India to the U. S. Allison Aubrey NPR News, Verizon is spinning off Yahoo and AOL well to the private equity firm Apollo NPR's David GER reports. It's a deal valued at about $5 Billion, A well in ya, who are two of the oldest brands on the Internet, and both have been overtaken by nimbler tech companies like Google. But Apollo sees value in Yahoo's audience, which is sizable and skews young. Yahoo says it's grown by double digits in the last two quarters. Verizon bought a well in 2015 and Yahoo a couple years later. I hope the acquisitions would help it compete with Facebook and Google on ads. Verizon have been getting rid of some of its media properties last year selling Huffpost to Buzzfeed. This deal marks the end of the telecom companies foray into media. David Gora, NPR NEWS New York On Wall Street, the Dow was up 276 points. This is NPR news in Washington. Live from the Texas newsroom. I'm Rachel Ozer Lindley. State health officials say Texas has a surplus of covert 19 vaccines. Kut is Ashley Lopez reports. They're encouraging providers to order more shots. In a letter to vaccine providers across Texas State health officials said that as of Friday, they had about 280,000 more doses than providers had requested the same providers air telling the state that their weekly demand for vaccine appointments has decreased, John Heller said. The commissioner of the Texas Department of State Health Services said in a letter That demand is shifting from large mass vaccination sites to smaller, more convenient sites where Texans routinely receive medical care. Ashley Lopez reporting state lawmakers are scrutinizing how the Texas Attorney general's office decides to hire outside counsel for lawsuits. Currently, state agencies must get approval from the ages office if they want to be represented by other lawyers, But the attorney general does not undergo a similar review for hiring outside attorneys. State Senator John Huffman, a Republican from Houston, filed a bill to change that The purpose of this legislation is to ensure transparency for how tax dollars air used to fund outside counsel fired by the O. A G, and you created check on who the OMG is authorizing to speak on behalf of Texas and court. Attorney General Ken Paxton has faced criticism from legislators after requesting $43 million for a lawsuit against Google. He hired outside attorneys that could make nearly $3800 per hour. And Venezuela has released six oil executives with Houston based Citgo from prison to house arrest. The Citgo six have been held on corruption charges since 2017 I'm Rachel Ozer Lindley for the Texas newsroom. You're listening to statewide news.
PRI's The World
COVID-19 Infections Are Increasing Globally
"Is kind of the pulse of this. Pandemic globally right now alana. Where are we at with infections. Well the big picture of marco is that the world is actually experiencing a steady increase in infections leaders at the. Who again sounded the alarm today. Because it's been seven straight weeks of rising infections actually is some of the highest surges yet in the pandemic and it's been four weeks streep of reisen deaths would areas most impacted. We have a sense of that. So i talked with ali mokdad about this. He's with the institute for health metrics at the university of washington and he's been modeling this pandemic since the start he says what's going on in five regions really stands out so i that is an increase in brazil. That snow started to come down so brazil is the big one. Neighboring countries like argentina and chile are now starting to experience rises to and then here the other hot spots this a big rise which still going on in india pakistan bangladesh at bark that is an increase in europe and the middle east following. What's your doping seeing. That is a. It is in cases in the philippines and that this is in south africa and african country. That's now started to come down so the fact that infections are increasing globally even parts of the us. We don't want to forget that. That really worries him. I mean it sounds like overall the world is just not close to controlling this virus. Do scientists have a handle on why cases continued to rise even with vaccines. Is it now all about the variants. Not points to the variance and lots of scientists do variants like be one one seven have become a dominant in europe and this has been found to be more transmissible. But there's another strong message. I'm hearing from a lot of scientists like angela rasmussen. she's just at georgetown. And as of this month the university of saskatchewan which is that these rises are not just from variants like the breakthrough masking and distancing another really important prevention
1A
White House moves up vaccine supply timeline, says U.S. will have enough for every adult by end of May
"Good news this week in the race to end this pandemic, this country will have enough vaccine supply of state again for every adult in America. By the end of May. By the end of May. That's progress. Important progress. This comes as the governors of Texas and Mississippi have lifted all pandemic restrictions in their states and new variants of the Corona virus are popping up around the world and in the U. S. There's a lot to talk about that we're setting aside the next hour to answer your questions about the vaccination effort. Joining me now is Dr Lena when she's a visiting professor at the Milken Institute School of Public Health. She's also an ER physician and the former Baltimore City health commissioner. Dr Wen. It's always great to have you To speak with you. Also with us Angela Rasmussen. She's a virologist, and she's also an affiliate at the Georgetown University Center for Global Health, Science and Security. Angela Welcome back. Thanks for having me back then a doctor win enough vaccine for every adult in America by the end of May. That's an aggressive timeline. Do you think we can get there? Well, I think we should break this down into three categories. In terms of where are the barriers to vaccination to having people actually getting the vaccine and their arms. The first barrier is that of supply. The second is that of distribution. The third. Is that a vaccine hesitant or acceptance of the vaccine. What President Biden announced is that by the end of name, we're going to solve the supply issue. That is we'll have enough supplies. You were saying for every adult American to have the vaccine. That doesn't mean that by the end of May, everyone is going to be able to get the vaccine because then once we get the supply, we need to move into addressing these other issues of administration and also of addressing hesitancy. So do I think that will get the supply? I certainly hope so. And so far, President Biden has been very good about not over promising. So I expect that this is going to be the case, which is fantastic, because supply right now is the limiting factor. Um I do think that a lot more work lies ahead of us in terms of actually getting that last mile logistics of getting the vaccines into arms and then also overcoming vaccine hesitancy. Available. Vaccines do not equal shots in arms. As you say, Doctor win, and the previous timeline was to have every American adult vaccinated by the end of July. Angela's we're seeing more variants. Developed. How urgent is it that we really ramp up vaccination? Well, it's very urgent on So given that people will be out there moving around more, the variants are becoming more and more prevalent. It's really, really crucial that we get vaccines into arms as quickly as possible. One thing people should really keep in mind and echoing what Dr Wen just said. Is that vaccines don't save lives. Vaccination saves lives, So we really, really need to buckle down and focus on making sure that we can get people vaccinated as quickly as possible. Well, we got this
KIRO Radio 97.3 FM
"angela rasmussen" Discussed on KIRO Radio 97.3 FM
"Striking the suspect The alleged shooter did not survive. Another shooting victim died at a hospital. A second hospitalized victim has life threatening injuries. Can't bar owner who defied Governor Jay Inslee's ban on indoor dining has agreed to pay a 24 $100 fine Stevens, Stephen Siler tells the Seattle Times he will now comply with covert rules. With covered vaccines rolling out, Dr Angela Rasmussen tells Cairo Prettiest Ian Ursula. Small gatherings are OK for some together for a small gathering for dinner and somebody's home. If everybody vaccinated, she stresses everyone that your get together should have had both doses of vaccine. Yurkiw over. Radio forecast calls for lows You're 30 tonight. Potential snow tomorrow with highs in the low thirties. It's 42 in downtown Seattle. I'm there. Gosh, we're breaking news highlights, podcasts and more download the Cairo radio at Cairo radio here for what's next. I got it. Here we go right to it should find Northwest outcome or come on into the state group. Text line of 98 97 3. All right, We're gonna get a chance to hear from you. You could possibly be letter the day if if Only after teeny tiny ladies in the pickle jar chooses you coming in now wouldn't wagon One.
WNYC 93.9 FM
"angela rasmussen" Discussed on WNYC 93.9 FM
"N Y C coming up next. Our weekly asked the mayor segment. Right now. It's time for ask a virologist with Dr Angela Rasmussen at 646435 70 to 80. Maybe I want to ask you a question about vaccines. Maybe you want to ask a question about variants. Maybe you want to ask about double masking and the quality of different kinds of masks. More in the news these days, Whatever 646435 70 to 86 46435 70 to 80 and as your calls are coming in and before we bring on Dr Rasmussen. Some of the latest covert vaccine news this morning includes that an FDA advisory committee is now officially scheduled to meet on February 26th toe look at approving the use of the one shot vaccine from Johnson and Johnson. Visor and modern is vaccines are about 95% effective when it comes to preventing even moderate cases of covert they have found in trials. Johnson and Johnson. Well, it appears to be 65% effective, but that could be a misleading stat. Because it still appears to be extremely effective against severe cases. And there's breaking news just a little while ago about the AstraZeneca vaccine, which has now been found to be protective Against the Corona virus variant first seen in the UK so that if true is really good news, and with all of that is prelude. Joining me now is Dr Angela Rasmussen, virologist and affiliate at the Georgetown Center for Global Health, Science and Security Doctor s Mus. And Thanks for doing this Welcome back to W N. Y C. Thanks so much for having me back. Brian, can we start with that brand new AstraZeneca Vaccine news yet? Have you even seen that yet? And how do they tease out whether any of these vaccines or effective against the new variants? So this is a really complicated question. And part of it is that if you want to look at vaccine efficacy against the new variants, you really have to make sure you're conducting your clinical trial in a place where those variants air circulating and right now, even though the variants have been detected many places all over the world, including throughout the U. S. There are not many countries where the those vaccines are actually circulating widely in the populations. One of those countries is South Africa, so trials that have been conducted in South Africa. Are able to actually look at this variance. And that's where we're seeing some of this clinical trial data about vaccine efficacy, specifically with its ability to protect against the B 1351 variant that's circulating there. And how about the Johnson and Johnson vaccine? I'm getting the sense from some science people that it's kind of been under reported in terms of its effectiveness that when we say a top line 65% effective And we've all heard 94% effective for the Madonna and the Fizer. It really kind of underplays How good the Johnson and Johnson one shot vaccine is. Is that your take? That is my take. I think that this has been really unfortunate, and it really shows how difficult vaccine trials are to report on one of the things you are correct in saying that it was less efficacious. Protecting against all symptomatic Cove in 19, But it was extremely efficacious, preventing severe cove in 19. And that was actually an end point that wasn't studied and the modern are Fizer trials. Johnson and Johnson was completely effective. There were no deaths as a result of people who were who were vaccinated, meaning that this vaccine is also extremely efficacious, and it has one Other major advantage over the Fizer and Madonna vaccines, and that is that it's only one shot, and it also doesn't require long term ultra cold storage The way that the M R any vaccines Diogo So I think that we should be celebrating the Johnson and Johnson news because it means that we have one more fantastic vaccine to add to our toolbox. This is also going to make it a lot easier to vaccinate people who are either in areas that make it difficult for vaccinators to get to Both in the U. S and abroad on areas that don't necessarily have the same type of cold chain infrastructure that larger cities, for example, will have. So I think all the Johnson and Johnson news is fantastic and that severe disease Prevention. I mean, that's really the ball game, isn't it because with any other Cold or flu that's going around. If you get it, you get it. But the problem with Cove it is that so many people wind up, hospitalized or wind up dying, so vaccine any vaccine that prevents that. I mean, that's that's the ball game, right? That's absolutely correct. So the thing with Cove it is that it's really a numbers game. SARS coronavirus, too, is very transmissible. We've seen it really just tear through populations, especially when people aren't implementing precautions to reduce transmission and exposure. And out of those people who get it. Many will not have severe disease. But enough people get it enough people have to go to the hospital than the hospital start to become overwhelmed. If we are at hospital capacity are already fragile health care system is really going to be pushed to R to its breaking point, so making sure that we can protect people from a more severe outcome where they have to be hospitalized and where they might even die from having cove. It. Is really great Bull for individual people receiving the vaccine, as well as for public health at large. I think that vaccines that can reduce house and deaths are are really as you said the ball game. All right, Listeners. A task of virologist virologist is Dr Angela MMA, Angela Rasmussen. From Georgetown University and Kyle in the story of your Aunt W, N Y C Hi, Kyle. A buy. And first time caller..
KIRO Radio 97.3 FM
"angela rasmussen" Discussed on KIRO Radio 97.3 FM
"Home for breaking news with our team of reporters around the country and the world. We give you the coverage you can trust now from the Cairo Radio New Center at my Northwest com hopes were dampened for some of their sixties who were hoping to get vaccinated in South King County next week. To net new vaccination clinics that are opening an Auburn and Kent on Monday. The age restrictions jumped from 65 to 75 years of age, Mickey, hardly a 67 and hasn't an auto immune disease that makes her protector. Particularly susceptible to the virus. She had been hoping to get the shot on Monday. I totally understand the shortage clinics opening in the middle of the night because they have extra vaccines. It's horribly frustrating. Health officials say they have to limit the doses to those who are at the greatest risk of dying of covert 19. And that's people. 75 or older. King County plans to give out 500 doses per day, six days a week. Once the supply increases, officials say they will change the requirements. Bass master getting new scrutiny with the more contagious strains of covert 19. Now in our country, a mask made in China, called the K and 95 is a good option. Unless you get a counterfeit one, though they're the ones that you would potentially be purchasing from the Internet from Katie suppliers that you may not have ever heard of. Dr Angela Rasmussen tells the Universal show that you should only by K and 90 five's that have been packaged for sale in the U. S. And come from Marie, Tell you trust either online or in person. And Seattle's Department of Transportation is making.
KIRO Radio 97.3 FM
"angela rasmussen" Discussed on KIRO Radio 97.3 FM
"The battle against covert 19. The CDC is ordering a sweeping US transportation mask mandate the kicks in late Monday, travelers will be required to wear masks on airplane ships, trains, Busses or taxis. And a transportation hubs like airports, bus or ferry terminals, train and subway stations and seaports. The order will be enforced by the T S, A and federal, state and local agencies and the CDC says violators could potentially face criminal penalties, but more likely civil penalties. You can take off the masks briefly to eat, drink or take medication. Jennifer Kuipers. CBS NEWS, CBS News has learned that FEMA is pushing to launch 100 sites in an effort to put shots into the arms of hundreds of thousands. CBS is Nicole's Ganga. The Federal Emergency Management Agency has asked the Pentagon to ready as many as 10,000 troops to support up to 100. Over 19 vaccination sites nationwide. The goal administering 450,000 vaccinations a day There is good coronavirus news for parents. CBS is Michael George explains. There's new hope for school Children from the Centers for Disease Control. CDC continues to recommend that K through 12 schools, Phoebe last setting to close after all other medications have measures have been employed and the first to re open. When they can do so safely there. Maybe vaccines for them to the alleged mastermind of the September 11th attacks is about to get the covert 19 vaccine. CBS is Catherine Herridge explains why, according to the Defense Department statement, the Coben 19 vaccine will be offered to all Guantanamo detainees in prisoners on a voluntary basis. Those detainees include the 59 11 suspects, among them the self described architect of the attack colleagues, Shak Mahamed, as was the senior Al Qaeda operative accused of bombing the USS Cole in 2000. Terrorism trials at the base has been further delayed by the pandemic. Now, the football a new survey finds more than half of Americans plan to bet on the Super Bowl, even those hardest hit by the pandemic. LendingTree commissioned the survey and found 67% of Millennials and 62% of Generation Z will try their luck, but only 25% of baby boomers will bet on the big game. Those who were laid off furloughed or had their hours cut during the pandemic are more likely to make a bet. Than those whose jobs were not impacted. The average bed is just over. $100 Wendy Gillette. CBS NEWS Kansas City will take on Tampa Bay, and this is CBS News. If you need to hire you need indeed, indeed immediately delivers quality candidates from our resume database when you upgrade your job post get started at indeed dot com slash credit now from the Cairo Radio New Center at my Northwest, Calm state is setting up special clinics to vaccinate teachers in school staff as quickly as possible. And not stretch that out over months, but rather a zlate Elice weeks if we could be super effective at this, state Superintendent Chris raked. All, says school employees will not be getting shots out of turn just more quickly with the partnership. Status set up with Kaiser Permanente. Rectal says he expects the school employees vaccine clinics will be in operation by early March. Face master getting new scrutiny with the more contagious strains of covert 19 now and are now in our country. Ah, Mass. We'd in China called a K and 95 is a good option. Unless you get a counterfeit one, though they're the ones that you would potentially be purchasing from the Internet from Katie suppliers that you may not have ever heard of. After Angela Rasmussen tells the Gene Ursula show that you should only by canine K and 90 five's that have been packaged for sale in the U. S and come from a retailer you trust either online or in person. Lawmaker from Southwest Washington calls the governor's latest reopening plan Arbitrary. Senator Jeff Wilson of Longview says half his district will be under new rules Monday. The other half won't Wilson has.
KPCC
"angela rasmussen" Discussed on KPCC
"Information. It's hard to keep track of it. We saw Denmark kill millions of minx after discovering they had Cove. It What other links to animals do we know of with covert could be dogs and cats are things that we just don't know about or suspect. So that's that's a very good question and one that I think about a lot because it has long term implications for controlling SARS coronavirus, too, So initially, this was probably not widespread throughout a number of different animal species. We've since learned it's both experimentally and in terms of animals being infected in the real world that there are a number of different issues that are susceptible to infection, so cats, minks and ferrets we know experimentally that hamsters are also susceptible. They're used up often as a model of pathogenesis, or the way that the virus causes disease. Mice can be susceptible to some of these variants, including the variant discovered in the UK and in South Africa and so on and so forth, so we know that there are a number of different animal species that could be infected with it. The real question. Long term for me is Will the virus actually still back into any of these species in the wild and start circulating there? That's when things start becoming really unpredictable and you run the risk of having the virus be established in a new wildlife reservoir. Some flu viruses are carried by Birds. Wild birds, Are they not? Is there a possibility This could happen to? Yes, so probably not with birds. To my knowledge. There aren't any birds that have been discovered to be susceptible to stars current virus to in influenza, the natural host of influence that is migratory waterfowl, and that's one of the reasons why flu mutates so much because it's infecting these wild birds that are moving from place to place and then it can also infect some livestock species, including domestic Chickens and ducks as well as pigs on DSA. Oh, that that leads to a huge pool of different hosts across different species that can lead to the emergence of a bunch of different new influenza viruses and strains. With SARS coronavirus to. Fortunately, there's not a bunch of different star's Corona virus to circulating out there, at least that we know of. There's no other subtypes of this virus as there is with influenza, but it is certainly a concern that some type of animal that does have a larger geographic range would be able to support this, and that could potentially introduce it then to other species, including humans. So this is all a big question mark right now, But it's something we do need to think about over the long term, because obviously it has implications for controlling this virus if the virus is able to continue involving in other species, even after we, uh mostly control spread within the human population, so just to be sure, and and to talk about it with our with our listeners. There's no evidence so far that we should be worried about our house pets. No, not really. In fact, if anything, we should be worried about infecting our house pets because cats can get get somewhat sick. Dogs are susceptible to it, but they don't actually get very sick. And there's certainly been no indication that there's any dog to human transmission occurring either, But so far to my knowledge, there's no Reported zoonotic infections of stars current virus to from domestic animals or house cats to people. Okay, we're going to take a short break to digest a whole bunch of stuff that we heard. When we come back, we'll continue to fact. Check your feet with neurologist, Dr Angela Rasmussen. Stay with us. As I say. We'll be right back after this short break..
KPCC
"angela rasmussen" Discussed on KPCC
"Of course, that vaccine is not yet approved in the U. S. However, the UK is also recommended that for the Fizer vaccine on Bear is no data about the effect that Delaine a second dose might have so Again. This really falls into the category of something that we can think about. We can discuss and if we do decide to move to this, we should actually test it. Before we start doing this. It's scale because we really don't know what the results would be from that. Yes. So we're basically conducting a real life experiment. That's exactly right. And my my other problem with this strategy is that I get that we are in a very dire, very urgent situation right now, with the numbers of cases that we have But at the same time we are really in a situation where the problem right now is vaccine supplies, so we don't necessarily need to do that again. We need to work out the problems with distributing the vaccines that we already have before we try to figure out how we can protect more people by stretching the supplies that are limited. Aren't there other one dose vaccines in the pipeline? I'm thinking of like Johnson and Johnson. That's right. So Johnson and Johnson is a different type of vaccine from the Fizer and Madonna vaccines. Those RMR any vaccines that essentially give yourselves instructions on how to make the spike protein. Star's Corona virus to that your immune system will then respond to the Johnson and Johnson vaccine actually uses a different virus called an adenovirus that will replicate to a certain degree and produce that protein from stars current virus to the spike protein. It's thought that sometimes vaccines that involve actually some level of virus replication can induce alone in one dose, those longer term immune responses just because they're they're more stimulatory to your immune system. Of the Johnson and Johnson vaccine is in phase three trials that will probably read out this month or at least in early February, And I believe that they're evaluating both of to dose and a single shot regimen. So if that single shot regimen shows efficacy levels anywhere near the Fizer and Madeira, no vaccines, I think that might end this argument for good because well suddenly have a huge supply of an alternative vaccine. It's actually also easier to distribute than the MRT vaccines because it doesn't require the same sort of cold storage that those vaccines Geo and JJ has the capacity to make a lot of vaccine, don't they? They do and the viral vectored adenovirus system that they're using. They've actually already developed as an experimental vaccine for HIV. So they already have the manufacturing capacity for that they've. They've further built that out as they were evaluating these vaccines. I think that could be a real game changer, assuming that it does show the same level of efficacy that the fighter and maternal vaccines did. There was some talk that when the Biden administration took over that it might sort of nationalized the vaccine production effort the way we did in World War two. We told the auto companies to make tanks instead of cars. Could. Could you see that happening? I think so. I think that you know, there's been a lot of talk about using the Defense production Act for both vaccines, as well as for components of the vaccine supply chains, so things like sterile saline, sterile liquids that are used to formulate the vaccines, glass vials and rubber stoppers and syringes. All that kind of thing that people don't think a lot about, but that are obviously really necessary for Not only creating vaccines but means to actually administer them to people. We've also heard a lot of discussion about using the Defense Production Act to make PPE for health care workers. And potentially also for the American people, so to provide people with more means to protect themselves, And I think all of those things would be a great use of the defense production act. Ah, lot of the times. I don't like comparing Public health measures to wartime measures. But in this case, I think that we really should see a national effort to do those things. And I think that would be a great way of doing it. Help me understand something about the Whole business about the Corona virus mutating when we talk about it mutating. Are we talking about an entirely different strain that we need to develop a new vaccine for or what? So that's a great question. And this is one thing I think that gets very confusing is that people often use the word strain quite a bit. But the words strain actually is not Tremendously specific in terms of virologists, and people will use it to mean ah variant that's genetically distinct. Some people will use it to mean variant that's immunologically distinct, and some people sort of use it to describe different viruses that emerged in different places. For example, like if you looked at the different rebel of viruses that have caused outbreaks in the Democratic Republic of Congo, the 2018 Ebola's virus would be different strain from the 2016. Able, a virus that emerged there, so the term strain isn't very precise, and people use it a lot of times very differently. The variance that have been described so far in the United Kingdom and in South Africa, you know it's debatable whether you want to call them a strain. They're genetically difference. And they key thing there is that they have a number of different point mutations and some deletions throughout the genome. Well, we don't really know is what those different mutations do. Now it's normal for RNA viruses like Corona viruses to acquire mutations every time they replicate. So it's not surprising that we're seeing a lot of different variants emerging because the coronavirus unfortunately has had many opportunities to replicate since its spread so broadly through the population, What's alarming about these two variances that they seem to be more transmissible? Fortunately, they don't seem to be more pathogenic. They don't seem to make disease worse, but they do seem to be much easier to transmit to people, which is a problem for health care system Right now, we don't know actually if they will have any effect on immunity produced by the vaccines, but they could So far, it's looking more like the variant that was identified. First in South Africa is more likely to have an impact on immunity. But those experiments are in progress, and we don't actually know that right now. Myra Plato. This is science Friday from W. N. Y C studios. In case you're just joining us. We're talking with Dr Angela Rasmussen fact checking your feed all kinds of new information. It's hard to keep track of it. We saw Denmark kill millions of minx after discovering they had Cove. It What other links to animals.
KCRW
"angela rasmussen" Discussed on KCRW
"Right now. 75 degrees in the leader. It's 55 in Inglewood that 4 20. It's all things considered from NPR news. I'm Audie Cornish and I'm Elsa Chang, President elect Biden is planning to take a dramatic step aimed at increasing the amount of covert 19 vaccine available. His team said today that he will release almost all available doses of vaccine when he takes office on January 20th in order to get the first shot to as many people as possible. Now, that is a reversal of the Trump administration's policy of holding back shots. In order to ensure there is enough to give people their second dose. We have one of the Presidents elect Cove in 19 Advisors here to talk about that surgeon and Harvard professor Dr A tool Guan di, welcome back to all things considered. Thank you. All right. So what is the thinking behind this decision? Two things number one is that there is every reason especially with the new strain out there to be moving more vaccine vaccinations into people's arms. Second, um, we believe that there will be a steady increase in production from the main vaccine manufacturers so that holding back out of concern there won't be rising. Uh, volume of vaccines is hurting us now, with a high likelihood that there is going to be increased production later, But it's not just a question of availability. Right now. It's about actually getting the shots into people's arms. I mean, the CDC says, As of today, 22 million doses have already been distributed. But less than seven million have actually been given. So specifically, what is Biden's plan to make sure available shots are actually getting injected into people. Well, what will that take? First of all, you're right. There are multiple failure points along the way the the problem of distribution vaccine sitting on shelves that are getting into people's arms. Is a mix of so many different failure points along the way. Lack of planning the trip started months ago that now has to be accelerated Second, you know, you hear from a lot of states lack of transparency. They don't know how many doses they're gonna be coming. Two or three days away, and that makes it impossible for providers trying to make a schedule visits. They find themselves with too many doses. Not enough doses. So there are there's everything from Being much more transparent, providing a clear planning and clear understanding of what's coming and what's not coming down the pike. There. And then there's distribution of resource is there's so many different failure points that you were at the time the shots into people's arms. How do you get the shots? People's arms. I am so number one. You have the pharmacies that are ramping up right now. And, of course, their support their support that the administration will provide to enable them to keep doing it. But they're not going to be the only solution. So you have hospitals. You have Clinics. There are mass vaccination sites being set up by states here in Massachusetts in even in stadiums where which is where I live, and those places need predictability they need resource is to hire staff. And they need a lot of regulatory blockers, move it out of the way and pushes many doses down those channels as possible. The thing is, the FDA has said it does not support extending the length of time between the 1st and 2nd shot so If the Biden administration releases all of the second dose is that have been held in reserve. Are you absolutely confident that there will be enough vaccine production to get everyone there? Second dose is on time. Well, First of all, I want to be clear. We're committed to the idea that people should get their second doses on time. We're not wanting to extend those the amount of time until they get their second doses. That is the way the clinical trials showed These Vaccines can work. There is there's a lot of confidence and faith in the manufacturers who are indicating that they can ramp up production to keep up. And so there is a certain degree of uncertainty that, you know, inevitable gamble that there could be hitches along the way. But the harm of not getting vaccines and arms now against the possible risk of a of a delay of a week or two. There's so much more harm now with the highest death rate. That we've ever experienced under this pandemic currently occurring now we should point out that a few members of Congress have tested positive for the virus even after getting their first dose of vaccine, So just to be clear a first dose does not completely protect you, right? That's right. First of all, it takes time after even the first does. It looks like a two least a couple weeks afterwards to start to see any mild effect. Furthermore, it's the combination of that first does followed by the booster dose that really gets you to the 95% effectiveness. Dr A tool go. Auntie is a member of the bite and Harris Transition Covert 19 Advisory Board. Thank you so much for joining us today. Glad to be here. All right. We're going to turn out at NPR health correspondent Rob Stein, who's been listening in and joins us Now he robbed. Hey, there. Also. You just heard doctor go, and he described this plan to stop holding vaccine back. Is this a good idea? According to people that you have been talking to Yeah, good question. So there's a really intense debate going on about this. And, you know, some public health experts and scientists have been talking to have been say they've been pushing for this for quite some time. They say the most important thing right now is to get the vaccine into as many people as fast as possible. And, well, two shots are better than 11 shot is still pretty good, and you'd end up saving more lives. If more people get one job than waiting for fewer people to get to Talked about this today with Mark Lips itch at the Harvard Th 10 School of public health, he says it's become even more urgent because of the emergence of these new variants of the virus that appear to be more contagious. As the virus continues to spread, and as we begin to contemplate the possibility of the new variant. Or other new variants becoming more of a problem in this country. It's a race against time. And the faster we get faxing out the better. Okay, Well, you heard me. Ask Dr Guan Di about some problems that might arise like not enough vaccine for second doses. Are there other concerns? Yeah, So, as you said, the critics say that big problem right now is not not having enough vaccine. The big problem is getting the vaccine that's out there actually into people's arms, so that should be the focus, but they're also big words about As you mentioned not having enough vaccine to make sure everyone gets that second shot. You know, no one knows how helpful the protection from one shot will really be. You know, how long will it last? How strong will be and the spokesman for Operation Works? Speed, released a statement today it was really sharply critical of Biden's plans if it threatens that booster. I talked about this with Angela Rasmussen. She's a virologist at Georgetown. The danger is that the vaccines might actually be long term less efficacious than they've been shown to be when using that the regimen that's authorized for use it could be potentially really harmful if we decide to deviate from that, just because of a short term supply issue. And Rasmussen and others also were that if too many people end up on Lee getting that one shot and that ends up on Lee, giving them a very weak protection. It could actually kind of backfire by, you know, helping new variants of the virus evolve that could outsmart the vaccines. Here's interesting using again. People might have sort of subpar vaccine responses, and that could allow for the selection of variants that might be able to evade the immune response is produced by the vaccine. And real quick, Rob. What are other people saying about those concerns? Yes. So I talked to Dr Anthony Fauci from the NIH about this this afternoon. And he, you know, said what Dr Gandhi said that there are absolutely no plans to abandon the two shot regimen that you do. Administration is committed to that. And President elect Biden's press secretary, told reporters today that if necessary The new administration would invoke the Defense production act, if necessary to compel the companies to do what's necessary.
WNYC 93.9 FM
"angela rasmussen" Discussed on WNYC 93.9 FM
"Do so. Well, Dr Rasmussen. We have run out of time. We'd like to thank you as always protecting time to be with us. It's always a pleasure to be here with you, Ira. Thank you. And please stay in touch as you move across the border to our neighbors to the north. I will. Absolutely That'll be sometime in March or April, and I'm happy to come back via the airwaves anytime. Dr. Angela Rasmussen, virologist at Georgetown University's Center for Global Health and Security, she's based in Seattle. For the rest of the hour, Looking at how cells age and whether there's anything that can be done to slow, stop or even reverse. That process has DNA ages. It gains sort of dust bunnies. Extra method groups tacked on and those metal groups can affect how the genes themselves are expressed. Without changing the actual sequence of genes and work published in the journal Nature. Researchers are looking at whether reversing that methylation can sweep away some of their craft and reprogrammed the cells back to a more youthful state. And it can, at least in mouse. I sells joining me now to talk about the work and what it means is one of the authors of that report. Davidson Claire professor in the Department of Genetics, Co director of the Paul If Glen Center for the Biology of Aging at Harvard Med School. Welcome to Science Friday. Thanks. Sorry. It's great to be on What do you mean, when we say a cell is aging? What happens to this cell over time? Well, this has been a debate for all at least 40 50 years, and there's really a lot that goes on in an aging cells. Many Of your listeners would know about the shortening of the ends of chromosomes called telomeres. We get proteins that accumulate that. Exacerbate Alzheimer's disease. But there's a new theory about aging. That's gaining a lot of traction. And that is that the cells forget how to function correctly because they cannot read that Dina correctly, and that's really what my labs being focused on for the last few years, and we recently published about How to manipulate that process. In fact, your group looked at a way to wind back the clock in the cells to tell us how you did that. What's being discovered Just in last five or so years about aging is that there is this clock seized name Ethel Chemicals that accumulate like crust on Dina, and we can read those very easily. A student in my lab could tell you your rough biological age within about 5% error within about a day. It's pretty easy on what this predicts. Actually, is that How old you are biologically not chronologically. Throw away the birthday candles and some people are older than they would otherwise think in some way younger. And it's also predicts how sick and or healthy they're going to be an old age and this DNA methylation clock we think is part off the system that goes wrong during aging. And what we tested was if we could reverse or scrape off those metal groups and reset the cell. Maybe aging would actually go backwards. And you did this in mice in ice cells cells in the eye? Well, yeah, we're not an eye lab, but we thought the I would be one place to start. Often, people ask me. Did you choose the eye because you thought it would work? In fact, my student at the time one Chang Lu picked the eye because he's he likes the eye, but what we did in the lab was we spent a few years actually one Chang spent a few years Failing to reverse the age of cells and and if he succeeded, typically, those cells became tumor. Genic, in other words, could form tumors in an animal of probably in a human, too. It's very difficult. It turns out to reverse aging partially without going all the way back to a stem cell, which, of course we don't want to do because that's essentially what a cancer is. But he hit upon a really specific three gene combination that was able to partially reversed the age of cells in the dish, but not go too far, and we applied that to the nerves at the back of The eye in mice on git did reverse the age of those cells. So you restored the vision in mice who had lost their vision by turning the clock back exactly right. But what was questioned at the time before our paper was, if you turn the clock back, is it just symbolic? Or does it actually have an effect on the cells similar to if you move the hands of a clock backward? You're not going to change time. This was the belief But what we discovered is that this three gene combination these jeans actually come from from from embryos. Typically a turn on during embryo Genesis. We call it Those three genes actually didn't just wind the clock back, but the cells came back to life and had a youthful Hadn't of genes on and off and they actually started to function as though they were young again. You don't wind the cells all the way back to where they were in the embryo. He just goes certain distance. Yes. So that's the exciting part about this is that if you use this right this combination The cells have a barrier to losing their identity and going back too far. Which is remarkable that it exists. We just lucked out. We didn't know that that was even possible. But also what's what's fascinating is that the cells Somehow have a backup copy of the useful parents and we're searching for where that information is stored right now. And you're saying that there's no reason why this could not be applied to other cells in the body to reverse aging. Yeah, actually, What's exciting is that there are many labs now who are working on this week. We call it partial epigenetic reprogramming or We're starting to use the word rejuvenation and they're testing other tissues. We we've now tested other cells in the eye, such as the ones that are involved in macular degeneration. It seems to be working there. Colleagues of mine have rejuvenated muscle on there are rumors of other tissues working. There was a recent paper from Spain. Men will surround no colleague of ours, who rejuvenated the brain. In mice and improved memory. So we think that this could be a And I say it a universal way to reverse aging in mammals and perhaps one day in people. Amara Plato, This is science Friday from W. N. Y C studios. So let's get to that part about people because that's what everybody is going to be asking. What do you need to have a proof of concept in people here? Well in the mice. What we saw were we had three different experiments. We saw nerves regrow when they were injured. We saw that glaucoma. Which is I think many people know his pressure induced damage to the retina. On just old age, We took those three systems in mice. And our three gene. Combination actually improved the function of the eye. In all three cases. In the case of glaucoma and old age, we looked at vision. And it was improved on the case of the old mice. It was actually restored to young mice. I came home after getting that result with the lab and said, We wake your blindness, a twist in mice, and I think my wife told me to go empty the dishwasher, But it was really interesting fight, but to your question. We think that we can. We want to try to attempt to reverse blindness or vision loss in people and we're going to start with patients who have glaucoma. And when would that start? Well, there's AH local company here in Boston Life Biosciences that's working towards that. It's probably a couple of years at least before we start to Put the gene therapy as it is right now are into patients, but we're working as hard as we can to safely make that possible. You know, people are going to hear this interview and they're gonna want to get In on this treatment, or perhaps even the tests themselves. Is there any way to do that? No, not not yet. It Z Not at the stage where I would say we know enough about it. It is a very powerful Potential medicine that's doing things that we thought were impossible. Just a few years ago, but it went out of the point where we can treat anybody. You know this is for most medicines, but particularly when it comes to gene therapy. This is Truly rewinding the clock and we don't know some fundamental things such as. How long does the effect last? How many times can you repeat the process? So we've engineered out gene therapy to be induce it'll What that means is we can give a mouse and hopefully patient on antibiotic that turns the jeans on for, say, three weeks. And then you turn it off. And then perhaps you could turn it on a few years later, if you needed to with your doctor's permission, So that's where we're heading. But no, Please don't contact me asking for any treatments just yet. Well, this sounds amazing doctors and clear We wish you all the best of luck here. Thanks Ira really appreciate the chance to be on favorite. Sinclair is a professor in the Department of Genetics.
WNYC 93.9 FM
"angela rasmussen" Discussed on WNYC 93.9 FM
"Of course, that vaccine is not yet approved in the U. S. However, the UK is also recommended that for the Fizer vaccine on Bear is no data about the effect that delaying a second dose might have so again. This really falls into the category of something that we can think about, we can discuss and if we do decide to move to this, we should actually test it. Before we start doing this. It's scale because we really don't know what the results would be from that. Yes. So we're basically conducting real life experiment. That's exactly right. And my my other problem with this strategy is that I get that we are in a very dire, very urgent situation right now, with the numbers of cases that we have But at the same time we are really in a situation where the problem right now is vaccine supplies, so we don't necessarily need to do that again. We need to work out the problems with distributing the vaccines that we already have. Before we try to figure out how we can protect more people by stretching the supplies that are limited. Aren't there other one dose vaccines in the pipeline? I'm thinking of like Johnson and Johnson. That's right. So Johnson and Johnson is a different type of vaccine from the Fizer and Madonna vaccines. Those air M Marani vaccines that essentially give yourselves instructions on how to make the spike protein. From Stars current virus to that your immune system will then respond to the Johnson and Johnson vaccine actually uses a different virus called an adenovirus that will replicate to a certain degree and produce that protein from stars current virus to the spike protein. It's thought that sometimes vaccines that involve actually some level of virus replication can induce alone in one dose. Those longer term immune responses just because they're they're more stimulatory to your immune system. And the Johnson and Johnson vaccine is in phase three trials that will probably read out this month or at least in early February, and I believe that they're evaluating both of to dose and a single shot regimen. So if that single shot regimen shows efficacy levels anywhere near the Fizer and Madeira, no vaccines, I think that might end this argument for good because well suddenly have a huge supply of an alternative vaccine. It's actually also easier to distribute than the MRT vaccines because it doesn't require the same sort of cold storage that those vaccines Geo and JJ has the capacity to make a lot of vaccine, don't they? They do and the viral vectored adenovirus system that they're using. They've actually already developed as an experimental vaccine for HIV. So they already have the manufacturing capacity for that. They further built that out as they were evaluating these vaccines. I think that could be a real game changer, assuming that it does show the same level of efficacy that the fighter and Madonna vaccines did. There was some talk that when the Biden administration took over that it might sort of nationalized the vaccine production effort the way we did in World War two. We told the auto companies to make tanks instead of cars. Could. Could you see that happening? I think so. I think that you know, there's been a lot of talk about using the defense production Act for both vaccines, as well as for components of the vaccine supply chains, so things like Sterile saline, sterile liquids that are used to formulate the vaccines, glass vials and rubber stoppers and syringes. All that kind of thing that people don't think a lot about, but that are obviously really necessary for Not only creating vaccines but means to actually administer them to people. We've also heard a lot of discussion about using the Defense Production Act to make PPE for health care workers. And potentially also for the American people, so to provide people with more means to protect themselves, And I think all of those things would be a great use of the defense production act. Ah, lot of the times. I don't like comparing Public health measures to wartime measures. But in this case, I think that we really should see a national effort to do those things. And I think that would be a great way of doing it. Help me understand something about the Whole business about the Corona virus mutating when we talk about it mutating. Are we talking about an entirely different strain that we need to develop a new vaccine for or what? So that's a great question. And this is one thing I think that gets very confusing is that people often use the word strain quite a bit. But the words strain actually is not tremendously specific. In terms of virologists, some people will use it to mean A variant that's genetically distinct. Some people will use it to mean variant that's immunologically distinct, and some people sort of use it to describe different viruses that emerged in different places. For example, like if you looked at the different rebel of viruses that have caused outbreaks in the Democratic Republic of Congo, the 2018 Ebola virus would be different strain from the 2016 Abel, a virus that emerged there, so the term strain isn't very precise, and people use it a lot of times very differently. The variance that have been described so far in the United Kingdom and in South Africa, You know it's debatable whether you want to call them a strain, but they're genetically different and they keep thing there is that they have a number of different point mutations and some deletions. Throughout the genome. What we don't really know is what those different mutations do. Now it's normal for RNA viruses like Corona viruses to acquire mutations every time they replicate. So it's not surprising that we're seeing a lot of different variants emerging because the coronavirus unfortunately has had many opportunities to replicate, since it spread so broadly through the population, What's alarming about these two variances that they seem to be more transmissible? Fortunately, they don't seem to be more pathogenic. They don't seem to make disease worse, but they do seem to be much easier to transmit to people, which is a problem for health care system Right now, we don't know actually if they will have any effect on immunity produced by the vaccines, but they could So far, it's looking more like the variant that was identified. First in South Africa is more likely to have an impact on immunity. But those experiments are in progress, and we don't actually know that right now. Myra Plato. This is science Friday from W. N. Y C studios. In case you're just joining us. We're talking with Dr Angela Rasmussen fact checking your feed all kinds of new information. It's hard to keep track of it. We saw Denmark kill millions of minx after discovering they had Cove. It What other links to animals.
KQED Radio
"angela rasmussen" Discussed on KQED Radio
"Of course, that vaccine is not yet approved in the U. S. However, the UK is also recommended that for the Fizer vaccine on Bear is no data about the effects that Delaine a second dose might have So again. This really falls into the category of something that we can think about, we can discuss and if we do decide to move to this, we should actually test it. Before we start doing this. It's scale. Because we really don't know what the results would be from that. Yes, so we're basically conducting a real life experiment. That's exactly right. And my my other problem with this strategy is that I get that we are in a very dire, very urgent situation right now, with the numbers of cases that we have But at the same time we are really in a situation where the problem right now is vaccine supplies, so we don't necessarily need to do that again. We need to work out the problems with distributing the vaccines that we already have before we try to figure out how we can protect more people by stretching the supplies that are limited. Aren't there other one dose vaccines in the pipeline? I'm thinking of like Johnson and Johnson. That's right. So Johnson and Johnson is a different type of vaccine from the Fizer and Madonna vaccines. Those air M Marani vaccines that essentially give yourselves instructions on how to make the spike protein. From Stars current virus to that your immune system will then respond to the Johnson and Johnson vaccine actually uses a different virus called an adenovirus that will replicate to a certain degree and produce that protein from stars current virus to the spike protein. It's thought that sometimes vaccines that involve actually some level of virus replication can induce alone in one dose. Those longer term immune responses just because they're they're more stimulatory to your immune system of the Johnson and Johnson vaccine is in phase three trials that will probably read out this month or at least in early February, and I believe that they're evaluating both of to dose and a single shot regimen. So if that single shot regimen shows efficacy levels anywhere near the Fizer and Madonna vaccines, I think that might end this argument for good because well suddenly have a huge supply of an alternative vaccine. It's actually also easier to distribute than the MRT vaccines because it doesn't require the same sort of cold storage that those vaccines Geo and JJ has the capacity to make a lot of vaccine, don't they? They do and the viral vectored adenovirus system that they're using. They've actually already developed as an experimental vaccine for HIV. So they already have the manufacturing capacity for that. They further built that out as they were evaluating these vaccines. I think that could be a real game changer. Assuming that it does show the same level of efficacy that the Fizer Moderna vaccines did. There was some talk that when the Biden administration took over that it might sort of nationalized the vaccine production. Effort the way we did in World War two. We told the auto companies to make tanks instead of cars. Could you could you see that happening? I think so. I think that you know, there's been a lot of talk about using the defense production act for both that scenes as well as for components of the vaccine supply chains, so things like Sterile saline, sterile liquids that are used to formulate the vaccines, glass vials and rubber stoppers and syringes. All that kind of thing that people don't think a lot about, but that are obviously really necessary for not only creating vaccines, but means to actually administer them to people. We've also heard a lot of discussion about using the Defense Production act to make PPE for health care workers. And potentially also for the American people, so to provide people with more means to protect themselves, And I think all of those things would be a great use of the defense production act. Ah, lot of the times. I don't like comparing Public health measures to wartime measures. But in this case, I think that we really should see a national effort to do those things. And I think that would be a great way of doing it. Help me understand something about the Whole business about the Corona virus mutating when we talk about it mutating. Are we talking about an entirely different strain that we need to develop a new vaccine for or what? So that's a great question. And this is one thing I think that gets very confusing is that people often use the word strain quite a bit. But the words strain actually is not tremendously specific. In terms of virologists, some people will use it to mean A variant is genetically distinct. Some people will use it to mean variant that's immunologically distinct, and some people sort of use it to describe different viruses that emerged in different places. For example, like if you looked at the different rebel of viruses that have caused outbreaks in the Democratic Republic of Congo, the 2018 Ebola virus is a different strain from the 2016 Abel, a virus that emerged there, so the term strain isn't very precise, and people use it a lot of times very differently. The variance that have been described so far in the United Kingdom and in South Africa, you know it's debatable whether you want to call them a strain, but they're genetically difference. And they key thing there is that they have a number of different point mutations and some deletions. Throughout the genome. What we don't really know is what those different mutations do. Now it's normal for RNA viruses like Corona viruses to acquire mutations every time they replicate. So it's not surprising that we're seeing a lot of different variants emerging because the coronavirus unfortunately has had many opportunities to replicate, since it spread so broadly through the population. What's alarming about these two variances that they seem to be more transmissible? Fortunately, they don't seem to be more pathogenic. They don't seem to make disease worse. But they do seem to be much easier to transmit to people, which is a problem for health care system Right now, we don't know actually if they will have any effect on immunity produced by the vaccines, but they could So far, it's looking more like the variant that was identified. First in South Africa is more likely to have an impact on immunity. But those experiments are in progress. And we don't actually know that right now, Um, I read Plato. This is science Friday from W. N. Y C studios. In case you're just joining us. We're talking with Dr Angela Rasmussen fact checking your feed all kinds of new information. It's hard to keep track of it. We saw Denmark kill millions of minx after discovering they had Cove. It What other links to animals.
KQED Radio
"angela rasmussen" Discussed on KQED Radio
"This is science Friday. I'm Ira Plato. It's a new week in a new year, And that means there's a whole slew of covert news to take a look at all this new information about vaccines and mutations. It can be pretty overwhelming. Right, So we're here to fact, Check your feet with our gas. Dr. Angela Rasmussen favor ologists at Georgetown University's Center for Global Health and Security. She's based in Seattle. Welcome back, Angela. Always great to have you. It's always great to be here, IRA. Thanks for having me you're quite welcome. Let's start with distribution of the vaccine for a minute. We've seen a lot of coverage that the U. S fell very short of its goal. Vaccinating 20 million people by the end of 2020. In fact, we hear that just over three million doses were administered. Why did we fall so short? Well, I think one of the reasons we fell so short and it is really complicated in this I should add, is a disclaimer that I am not involved in any way in the distribution, so I only know about this from a sort of bigger picture level. But I think that one of the big problems that we've had with distribution is the fact that there really is no centralized vaccine distribution plan. Operation works speeds involvement in that really ends at the point where they allocate the vaccines to the different states. And at that point, it becomes each individual state or localities responsibility to distribute that vaccine and some states are doing better than others, for example. Some states have implemented policies that actually make the vaccine much more difficult to access for some people such as New York, in which the vaccines are only to be given out at hospitals right now, when we have an unprecedented number of covert patients going into hospitals that makes using that environment to also distribute vaccines to healthy people. Very challenging, So it's a really complex problem. It has a lot to do with logistics, and it also has a lot to do with all the different rules in the different places where the vaccines are actually being distributed on the ground. Yeah, We have no national policy. That would be the same for everybody. That's exactly right. And this was a problem that we also saw with with really testing each state And sometimes local health departments are predominantly involved in doing these tests and collecting the data and then reporting it to a centralized federal data call later, and this has also really lead to a lot of confusion, trying to look at the national numbers. Rather than the numbers by states on DSA. Now we're seeing the same thing with vaccine distribution. It really does argue that for really important public health measures that affect all of us in the U. S. They're really does need to be a federal national plan to unify us and to make sure that these things run smoothly. Do you think now that we're getting a new president in a couple of weeks that things could speed up with the new administration? I really hope so. And certainly President elect Biden has made it clear that he does. Plans to have more of a federal plan. He plans to provide more federal leadership and I really do think that's what's needed because we shouldn't be able to access Really critical public health measures like vaccines based on the politics of who our local governor or leaders are you know a few years ago when Tony Fatty was on the show talking about vaccinations because we used to have him on regularly? Hey, he related a story that when he was a young child, I think he was six or seven and he was living in New York. And there was an outbreak of smallpox in New York City, but because everybody used to get inoculated with smallpox. Remember when you were a baby? They don't do that anymore. Yes, the infrastructure. I'm actually not that old, but I know the story. Well, the infrastructure was there so that they could inoculate what eight million people in two weeks. I mean, doesn't that speak to us? Hey, we've learned a lesson. We should create a permanent infrastructure because we're going to have more outbreaks of viruses. Absolutely. And you know, smallpox is a great example of that. That was the first vaccine in fact. Vaccines are called vaccines because the virus that you used to inoculate somebody against smallpox or very old virus is vaccinia virus or cowpox. Virus s O. Technically, a vaccine is on Lee really? A smallpox inoculation because most vaccines are not based on vaccinia virus. Now, of course, we now use the term generally to mean an immunization. But I think that that's ah great reminder that we should maybe go back to basics that sometimes we need to be able to rapidly and dynamically and flexibly start vaccinating a lot of people, especially if there's an outbreak of a re immersion virus or if there is a new outbreak of a new virus. Now we have all these different vaccine technologies, and we've shown During this pandemic, at least that we can rapidly approve them for for human use, and that they're actually quite efficacious. We need to start thinking about how we can do that. As part of a larger, longer term pandemic and epidemic preparedness plan. We now have two approved vaccines here in the U. S one from Fizer. One from Oh, Derna. These are both two dose vaccines and you know we have been hearing talk about whether not both doses are necessary. Just try to stretch the vaccine supply out what's going on here so that that was first proposed before we started to realize what serious issues we were having with vaccine distribution. The idea there was when those vaccines were submitted to the FDA for evaluation for emergency use authorization. Both of them showed a certain level of protection after the first shot. And after about 14 days after you get your first shot, there's really measurable protection conferred by that one shot now, the caveats There is that. That we don't know how long that protection would last after just one shot because, of course, the clinical trials were evaluating them as two shot regimens. So knowing that we would only have about 20 million doses of each by the end of 2020 people have proposed. Maybe we can give people one shot and that will confer some protection. And then either we could leave it at one shot. Or maybe we could give them a second shot. Just later on. We have more vaccine supplies. Now I think that there is married to some of those arguments. But the real caveat. There is that we don't have any efficacy data on changing up the dose in regimen so right now, given that we aren't able to get the vaccines that we do have into people's arms. I think it's really premature to be suggesting that we just change the dose and schedules. Without doing any research to see if that would provide the same level of protection as the dozing schedules that were actually evaluated and the U. K. I understand is trying this one dose method right now, The UK is actually recommending a delayed second dose. So there is a difference with that. Now it may be, You know, we do get many vaccines and what's called a prime boost regimen where you get the first dose and then you get a booster shot later on. And for some vaccines, we know that you can get that booster shot over a large range of time. And in fact, one of the trials for the AstraZeneca vaccine did give the second dose up to 12 weeks later and didn't see measurable decrease in efficacy..
KIRO Nights
New Pfizer Results: Coronavirus Vaccine Is Safe and 95% Effective
"It's vaccine is 95%, effective at preventing covert 19 and Georgetown virologist, Dr Angela Rasmussen tells car radios Jian Ursula, the data is correct in very effective at preventing symptomatic Soviet 19 FDA is expected to give Fizer emergency authorization to distribute the vaccine Thursday. We could get it by sea. Saturday