haring
Established
The sad truth that the virus won't disappear. We can make the impact less severe. I am a wedding photographer. Steps to keep yourself and the guests safe from Covid-19:
https://www.haringphotography.com/weddings-i-do/blog/wedding-covid-precautions/
https://www.haringphotography.com/weddings-i-do/blog/wedding-covid-precautions/
markjwyatt
Well-known
Ricoh
Well-known
The latest info from Denmark makes disturbing news.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-54842643
Early days but let’s hope the mutation doesn’t compromise the current Vaccines in development. If the spike mutates sufficiently it could be bad.
Lesson: Interfere with the natural order at your peril.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-54842643
Early days but let’s hope the mutation doesn’t compromise the current Vaccines in development. If the spike mutates sufficiently it could be bad.
Lesson: Interfere with the natural order at your peril.
Phil_F_NM
Camera hacker
Why has there been little to no coverage of the fact that no vaccine has ever been successfully developed to guard against any corona virus? Work went on for years to protect against SARS COV 1 f on 2002, but no vaccine was ever proven to be effective in any way.
Stay safe y'all.
Phil Forrest
Stay safe y'all.
Phil Forrest
Freakscene
Obscure member
It is a salient lesson in basic biosecurity. The animal infection models for SARD COV-2 use ferrets and we’ve known for some time that mustelids are very susceptible to the virus. Allowing infected people into mink farms was a problem waiting to happen. I hope for the farmers that they have a compensation scheme for the lost product.
The upside is Denmark is prepared, and responding aggressively. The minks will be destroyed and disposed of, and the infected people from the cluster will be isolated. They have a very good chance of containing and eradicating this cluster. The increased pathogenicity and potential circumvention of response in immune or vaccinated individuals is concerning.
There is nothing in any of this that is “interfering with the natural order”. Humans are just animals, and pathogens have been cycling between humans and other species since we first evolved. The virus undoubtedly came from an animal population, however it got into the human population.
The SARS COV 1 vaccine work was abandoned after the outbreak was contained. It is true that there has never been an effective vaccine developed for a coronavirus, but apart from SARS COV 1, developing a vaccine for a coronavirus has never really been attempted. The current pandemic is powerful motivation, and might result in vaccines being commercialised with parameters that would normally count it out of widespread use - such as needing -80C storage and transport, a short re-vaccination requirement (6 monthly maybe), greater consideration of clinical effect vs protection from infection, and the overall economic effect of having a protected population vs High cost of vaccination.
We are in unprecedented times, and it calls for an unprecedented solution.
Marty
Ricoh
Well-known
I do not think farming Mink is a good idea, and it is definitely interfering with the “natural order“. If left on their own the mink would not congregate in such numbers, and would not be in such close contact with humans.
Over 17 million mink are being culled as a result of reckless greed to sell their fur.
Sheer madness to ‘farm’ animals in this way.
Out to Lunch
Ventor
Indeed. On a beside, in the past, most vaccines were developed by academics and non-profit labs, while today, the task is outsourced to multinational companies managed by CEOs primarily concerned with stock value and their bonuses. Cheers, OtL
Ricoh
Well-known
SARS-COV-1 transmitted when an individual had symptoms, the son of the virus, CV-19, transmits prior to symptoms being expressed. It was contained and vaccine development put on indefinite hold. But the work on SARS-COV-1 vaccine helped speed up current endeavours, as well as more recent developments with ‘plug and play’ vaccines technology.
Freakscene
Obscure member
Subclinical carriage and transmission also occurred in SARS COV-1. The main difference is that it was less infectious and more pathogenic.
Of course. The main reason for me bringing this up was in response to a comment that there had never been a vaccine successfully brought to market for any coronavirus. This is true, but there are reasons for this other than that it is impossible or had never been attempted.
Also note that Australian company CSL began commercial production of the Oxford University Astra-Zeneca COVID-19 vaccine today (9 November 2020) before phase 3 trials are complete and well before any regulatory authority has approved its use. They are essentially betting on it working and being ahead of the game. I can think of no other set of circumstances where anything like this has happened with a human vaccine, ever. Unprecedented times.
There is only a philosophical difference between farming mink and any other intensive animal industry. Chickens and other poultry, pigs, salmon and other animals are farmed this way. It concentrates the environmental impact and minimises the spatial footprint. It is extremely efficient. Among the downsides are that you need good biosecurity to minimise zoonoses and animal diseases.
And it's impossible to be a film/traditional silver photographer and not support intensive animal production - high bloom photographic gelatin all comes from intensively reared livestock.
It's only obliquely relevant, but I bought my first Leica with money I earned from fox pelts from animals I shot on my great aunt's farm in the 1980s, before the fur price tanked.
Most vaccines are still developed by academics in not-for-profit labs, but the logistic, economic and scale of production contraints that need to be overcome to bring vaccines to market in the current climate is beyond these types of institutions. I have been involved in the development of a number of vaccines, and the point at which academics hand them over is generally at the point where it becomes impossible for that lab to go further without the support of a large entity that has the resources to push the product through the next step(s). This is what happened with Gardasil/HPV vaccine: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HPV_vaccine for example.
Marty