Author: Lori Jia

Johnson & Johnson pauses its coronavirus vaccine trial because of a volunteer’s ‘unexplained illness.’

Posted on by Lori Jia

The New York Times, October 12, 2020 (Virginia Hughes, Katie Thomas, and Katherine J. Wu)

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Johnson & Johnson has paused the large late-stage clinical trial of its coronavirus vaccine because of an “unexplained illness” in one of the volunteers, the company said on Monday.

The company did not say whether the sick participant had received the experimental vaccine or a placebo. The pause was first reported by the health news website Stat. On Tuesday morning, shares of Johnson & Johnson fell about 2 percent on the S&P 500.

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As the pandemic rages on, doses of optimism can be found.

Posted on by Lori Jia

The New York Times, October 12, 2020

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On March 16, President Trump stood before reporters and announced that drastic nationwide restrictions were needed to halt the coronavirus.

The guidelines, “15 Days to Slow the Spread,” were accompanied by a grim chart. Based on a prominent model by London’s Imperial College, the chart illustrated how many Americans might die if nothing were done.

The line rose sharply, then drifted slowly down until finally, at the far right end of the graph, the number of new cases reached zero. Our national nightmare would end by October 2020 — that is, right about now. If no action was taken, about 2.2 million Americans would die.

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First, a Vaccine Approval. Then ‘Chaos and Confusion.’

Posted on by Lori Jia

The New York Times, October 12, 2020

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The United States may be within months of a profound turning point in the country’s fight against the coronavirus: the first working vaccine.

Demonstrating that a new vaccine was safe and effective in less than a year would shatter the record for speed, the result of seven-day work weeks for scientists and billions of dollars of investment by the government. Provided enough people can get one, the vaccine may slow a pandemic that has already killed a million people worldwide.

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The Coronavirus Unveiled

Posted on by Lori Jia

The New York Times, October 9, 2020

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In February, as the new coronavirus swept across China and shut down entire cities, a scientist named Sai Li set out to paint its portrait.

At the time, the best pictures anyone had managed to take were low-resolution images, in which the virus looked like a barely discernible smudge.

Dr. Li, a structural biologist at Tsinghua University in Beijing, joined forces with virologists who were rearing the virus in a biosafety lab in the city of Hangzhou. Those researchers doused the viruses with chemicals to render them harmless and then sent them to Dr. Li.

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