Private channel session 648

6 messages over 1h 30m, 2020-12-04 – 2020-12-04.

A “conversation” here is an activity session — a run of messages with under 60 minutes of silence inside it. The channel had no native conversation boundaries.

2020-12-04 07:49 Robert F. Garry open PDF p.293

https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/health/2020/12/04/vaccine-ethics-does-continuing-covid-19-trials-put-volunteers-risk/6473436002/ This was one reason I advocated for human challenge trials - those in the placebo arm remain "sitting ducks."
2020-12-04 08:28 Andrew Rambaut open PDF p.293

The Wellcome Trust is funding a challenge trial. They have manufactured the virus. I don't which vaccines they intend to use.
2020-12-04 09:12 Robert F. Garry open PDF p.293

GOOD! A major question that randomized "wild" trials will struggle to answer is whether vaccinees still produce enough virus to remain infectious if exposed. Contrary to what I thought would be the case we found at Tulane that virus load had very little impact on whether or not a student was a "spreader." There was not complete sterilizingimmunity in the NHP challenge trials AFAIK. So, you could have a situation where vaccinees are protected against serious disease, but are still able to transmit the virus to some degree.
2020-12-04 09:17 Kristian G. Andersen open PDF p.293

Damn IgA vs IgG! As for sterilizing immunity - the animal trials for both the J&J and RNA vaccines were promising on this aspect -the Oxford vaccine, not at all.
2020-12-04 09:18 Andrew Rambaut open PDF p.293

But the RNA vaccines may recombine with your viruses and integrate into your genome and all sorts of things.
2020-12-04 09:20 Kristian G. Andersen open PDF p.293

... and lead to sterilization. Which may not be a bad thing.