5
Jan
2021
The Vaccine Rollout Could Prompt Real Reform to the US Health System
When I received the COVID vaccine on Dec 24, it was the end of a tense, frustrating two-week period. Thousands of healthcare workers like me — doctors, nurses, physician assistants and more — at the Mass General Brigham health system were eager to get vaccinated, and antsy about whether we’d get the shot as soon as it was available. The... Read More
22
Dec
2020
Listening Through The Noise and Talking to Those Who Will Listen
Pediatric oncologists like me tend to know their cancer chemotherapy combinations, chapter and verse. But for me and many of my colleagues, vaccines have always loomed large, integral to the “pediatric” part of our medical training. As a medical student in the late 1990s and a resident in pediatrics during the early 2000s, vaccination was a constant source of discussion.... Read More
20
Dec
2020
Science in the Face of Fear: Vaccine Hesitancy and Public Trust
This month has been a media whipsaw. News of the Pfizer and Moderna mRNA vaccines’ compelling efficacy and the U.S. Food and Drug Administration’s rapid response and issuance of an Emergency Use Authorization for both vaccines have been met with equal parts jubilation and fear from a divided public. For me, as a medical virologist and researcher, this remarkable achievement... Read More
17
Dec
2020
A Grateful Physician Reflects on Getting the COVID-19 Vaccine
Tonight, I will receive my first dose of vaccine against COVID-19. I’m a hospitalist on the front lines, taking care of patients with COVID-19 in Philadelphia. The progress of this year takes my breath away. One year ago, in December 2019 in China, people starting falling seriously ill with pneumonia-like symptoms. By January 2020, a novel coronavirus, SARS-CoV-2, was identified... Read More
11
Dec
2020
The Vaccine Is Coming, and Scientists Need to Keep the Focus on Equity
As we navigate this pandemic, the discourse has often created a fog. Science has been doing what it does – forming hypotheses, testing them, gathering vast amounts of data, and pressure-testing conclusions with unprecedented urgency. The ideas that pass scrutiny are being elevated into recommendations, while others are being discarded. Science isn’t perfect. It is practiced by people, and people... Read More
10
Dec
2020
Pfizer, BioNTech Vaccine Gets FDA Advisory OK. Now Comes More Hard Work
The good news this week was really one of those good news / bad news stories. An expert panel of FDA vaccine advisors looked at Pfizer’s presentation for the mRNA COVID-19 vaccine candidate, and saw the outstanding results for what they were. The vote was 17-4 (with one abstention) to recommend that the FDA give the go-ahead for an Emergency... Read More
25
Nov
2020
I Used to Report on Clinical Trials, Now I’m In One; Here’s Why I Volunteered
I am not brave. Once, I passed out after a routine blood draw for a diagnostic test. Ever since that first scary and embarrassing episode at a LabCorp location in Manhattan several years ago, the act of giving a blood sample, no matter how small, has been a source of anxiety. Will I break out in a cold sweat? Feel... Read More
23
Nov
2020
A New Model for Vaccine Communications Grounded in Science and Empathy
With COVID-19 cases, hospitalizations and deaths surging, the impressive vaccine results from Pfizer/BioNTech, Moderna and now AstraZeneca arrive just in time to provide some needed hope. But for these vaccines to bring the pandemic to an end, enough people need to be willing to take them. That’s not a given. Various polls have told a story this year about a rising tide... Read More
18
Oct
2017
Vir Biotechnology, a ‘Shock and Awe’ Startup, Bets on Infectious Disease with $500M+
Please subscribe and tell your friends why it’s worthwhile. Quality journalism costs money. When you subscribe to Timmerman Report at $169 per year, you reward quality independent biotech reporting, and encourage more. Subscribe Now Sign in to your account.