SvenskaNormally, development of a new drug takes more than a decade. When the American president gathered pharmaceutical companies in the White House in the beginning of this covid-19 pandemic, former President Trump had one message: “You need to develop a vaccine that protects us from severe COVID-19 – and that is immediately”.
This was a completely new situation. Drug companies were forced to develop a new drug backwards. From production to idea. Not the usual way when you start with an idea. “In approximately a year from now we need to have ongoing production of a vaccine against covid-19, and that means that we need suitable vaccine candidates within a few months. And how can we develop these candidates?”
Collaboration is crucial. And Pfizer has, to the best of my knowledge, a collaboration with a company having knowledge about the mRNA technology. A teamed couple, who has dedicated their lives to eg understand the dynamics of mRNA, has founded the biotechnology company BioNTech. Good for us! Thank you so much. Decision making is important and Pfizer decided to go for the mRNA technology and not traditional vaccines. Small scale clinical trials in healthy individuals finally resulted in a SARS-CoV-2 mRNA candidate with few side effects.
The people in Israel 🇮🇱 were by some reason very soon vaccinated, and they have contributed to the understanding of group immunity. Pfizer has been very clear that they are well prepared for taking care of the next pandemic. An immense amount of work has been invested this year. New knowledge has been gained about clinical mRNA technology that most probably will lead to development of new drugs in other therapeutical areas such as cancer.
The 2009–2010 pandemic of swine influenza and this Corona pandemic are the only pandemics I have been close to. The Corona pandemic is much more severe. During the Swine flu I was really never worried. It was very clear that risk groups were more sensitive. But this time, any person can develop severe symptoms of COVID-19. Long term effects that you may have to live with. I had the vaccine against the swine flu since it is good to be protected and in particular to protect others. This time was different. Staying unvaccinated can cause serious long-term symptoms if you get infected by the Corona virus. And even death. You never know your sensitivity. I am sharing my vaccination memories below. Schools have started and by some reason I thought of this song from long time ago.
Keep staying safe 🐾
🇳🇴 Norway, Fredrikstad 2009 🇸🇪 Sweden, Stockholm 2021