A Busy COVID News Day

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First, some good news: Johnson & Johnson announced today that they will have Phase III data next week, and that they are positioned to fulfill their vaccine dosage contracts. I doubt they would mention the latter unless they were reasonably confident about the former.

And some more good news: Washington’s Department of Health announced the addition of Dan Laster to head up their public-private partnership to accelerate vaccine rollout. Laster spent a decade at PATH and a decade at Microsoft, so the profit/non-profit bridge is home base for him. He’s an inveterate marathoner, which should be good training for this position.

And a sobering note, at least for mice: researchers have determined that the COVID-causing virus seems able to hide out in the brain while the immune system clears it from the lungs, with a variety of possible consequences, including the “relapse/death” pattern seen in sick humans, and perhaps the “Long COVID” phenomenon, which often features neurological issues. Yet another reason not to get this disease.

Tom Corddry
Tom Corddry
Tom is a writer and aspiring flâneur who today provides creative services to mostly technology-centered clients. He led the Encarta team at Microsoft and, long ago, put KZAM radio on the air.

1 COMMENT

  1. I think what you’re telling me is that they tested mice, first finding COVID in the lungs and later finding COVID gone from the lungs but present in the brain. Is there more meaning to “hiding out” other than the potential to metastasize back to the lungs or somewhere else?
    A link to read more?
    Thanks, as always, for your diligence and for the clarity of your writing.
    David

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