The New York Times, April 13, 2021 (with Noah Weiland and Sharon LaFraniere)
Injections of Johnson & Johnson’s coronavirus vaccine came to a sudden halt across the country on Tuesday after federal health agencies called for a pause in the vaccine’s use as they examine a rare blood-clotting disorder that emerged in six recipients.
Continue reading “Johnson & Johnson Vaccinations Paused After Rare Clotting Cases Emerge”
The New York Times, April 9, 2021
The prospect of a fourth wave of the coronavirus, with new cases climbing sharply in the Upper Midwest, has reignited a debate among vaccine experts over how long to wait between the first and second doses. Extending that period would swiftly increase the number of people with the partial protection of a single shot, but some experts fear it could also give rise to dangerous new variants.
Continue reading “To Speed Vaccination, Some Call for Delaying Second Shots”
The New York Times, April 7, 2021 (with Sheryl Gay Stolberg)
A highly infectious variant of the coronavirus that was first identified in Britain has become the most common source of new infections in the United States, the director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said on Wednesday. The worrisome development comes as officials and scientists warn of a possible fourth surge of infections.
Continue reading “More Contagious Virus Variant Is Now Dominant in U.S., C.D.C. Chief Says”
The New York Times, April 5, 2021
A new vaccine for Covid-19 that is entering clinical trials in Brazil, Mexico, Thailand and Vietnam could change how the world fights the pandemic. The vaccine, called NDV-HXP-S, is the first in clinical trials to use a new molecular design that is widely expected to create more potent antibodies than the current generation of vaccines. And the new vaccine could be far easier to make.
Existing vaccines from companies like Pfizer and Johnson & Johnson must be produced in specialized factories using hard-to-acquire ingredients. In contrast, the new vaccine can be mass-produced in chicken eggs — the same eggs that produce billions of influenza vaccines every year in factories around the world.
If NDV-HXP-S proves safe and effective, flu vaccine manufacturers could potentially produce well over a billion doses of it a year. Low- and middle-income countries currently struggling to obtain vaccines from wealthier countries may be able to make NDV-HXP-S for themselves or acquire it at low cost from neighbors.
“That’s staggering — it would be a game-changer,” said Andrea Taylor, assistant director of the Duke Global Health Innovation Center.
Continue reading “Researchers Are Hatching a Low-Cost Coronavirus Vaccine”
Lots to relay in this issue of Friday’s Elk, including news on two books. So let’s dig in!
I’ve written a new edition of A Planet of Viruses, which has just come out. It has the same micro-format of the original edition a decade ago: twelve essays on twelve of my favorite viruses. But I’ve updated it throughout with new scientific research. Most significantly, I’ve written a chapter on Covid-19, drawing on my reporting for The New York Times over the past year.
The book also has a new look, courtesy of an old friend. When I turned ten, my family moved to the rural fringe of western New Jersey, where I didn’t know a soul. Someone told my parents that a kid like me who was always writing stories and drawing comic strips should meet another ten-year old there named Ian Schoenherr, who drew pictures of Willy Wonka and such. We’ve been friends ever since. Ian has gone on to illustrate a long string of books, while I’ve been writing others. This is the first time he has illustrated a book of mine, and I couldn’t be more pleased. You can order the third edition here.
Life’s Edge: Podcasts and More
This weekend, the New York Times Book Review put Life’s Edge on the cover, with a review from Siddhartha Mukherjee, author of Emperor of All Maladies and The Gene. It’s a career first for me, so I’m inexpressibly grateful.
The Washington Post reviewed Life’s Edge as well, writing, “The pleasures of Life’s Edge derive from its willingness to sit with the ambiguities it introduces, instead of pretending to conclusively transform the senseless into the sensible.”
I also had an hour-long conversation with Meghna Chakrabarti, host of National Public Radio’s On Point. Listen here. Pamela Paul, the editor of the New York Times Book Review, hosted me on her podcast as well.
You can order the book here.
Not Missing My Shot
After writing for months about the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine, it’s weirdly elating to get their messenger RNA pumped in my shoulder. Looking forward to full immunization in mid-May.
That’s all for now. Stay safe!
You can find information and ordering links for my fourteen books here. You can also follow me on Twitter, Facebook, Goodreads, and LinkedIn. If someone forwarded this email to you, you can subscribe to it here.
Best wishes, Carl
Originally published April 3, 2021. Copyright 2021 Carl Zimmer.