DanSquared on Health

20/12/2020

How fast will Americans get a COVID-19 vaccine? It’ll depend on how fast they actually manufacture them, how fast they can actually distribute them, and how the government categorizes us.

6 companies have made deals with the government, for a total of 800 million. However, Novavax and Sanofi won’t be ready to produce their vaccine till April and Johnson & Johnson and AstraZeneca won’t submit their vaccines for approval until February. Moderna and Pfizer have each shown impressive data in terms of effectiveness and safety but it remains to be seen if the others will pass scientific and FDA scrutiny.

We also have to talk about logistical issues that could slow down distribution significantly. The vaccines require delicate cold storage that will be expensive and hard to provide en masse. Believe it or not, experts are worried about a dry ice shortage. And then there’s the difficult part of administering the vaccines, organizing the drives, recruiting, etc. On top of this, these vaccines will be 2 doses spaced a month apart. Imagine the difficulty of getting people to remember to come back, tracking who gets the first dose, etc.

Even with all of these concerns, the US government and healthcare providers are dedicated to pulling off this truly unprecedented campaign to end the pandemic. We may have failed at prevention, safety measures, and protecting the poor and high-risk population, but we can still appreciate this for what it could be: a breathtaking achievement. Distributing the vaccine won’t be immediate; it’ll take 12 months for all the reasons above. The vaccine will first go out to healthcare workers, then nursing homes with elderly, then essential workers, then people with existing health risks, then all adults over 66, then to the 67 million Americans remaining.

We know many people will die in between now and October of 2021, right before the war is almost over. All of these next steps are tentative, and this may be longer than you were expecting, but the end is in sight. Let’s continue to be safe in the meantime, encourage our community to get the vaccine, and push lawmakers to equitably and swiftly scale the distribution efforts.

08/12/2020

Today, the FDA reviewed the Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine data and will soon do the same for Moderna’s vaccine. Can we really be sure they went through the normal rigorous approval process? Can we trust that they’ll be safe?
Typically clinical trials run 3 phases, and after each phase is complete, scientists wait for regulator approval. Phase 1 usually tests a small group of people to see if the vaccine works at all, then Phase 2 focuses on dosing, side effect profile, administration methods, etc. With COVID-19, companies worked closely with regulators to run combined Phase 1 and 2 trials simultaneously. If something seemed concerning, the trial would be stopped at any moment. Johnson & Johnson ran into some initial concerns and its trial was paused. Moderna and Pfizer passed these steps with flying colors.
To ensure that the vaccine works, Moderna and Pfizer then enrolled thousands of patients across the world in pandemic-heavy areas to see which randomized patients get infected by COVID-19. Normally this Phase 3 lasts 6-8 months, but we were able to move faster since so many participants were being exposed every day. Enough of the participants got COVID-19 to be able to compare the vaccinated ones to the placebo-receiving patients. The results are on par with older vaccines.
The adverse event data shows the percentage of vaccinated patients who get a particular ‘severe’ side-effect from other existing vaccines vs. the percentage from the Pfizer vaccine. In general, we should expect that most people will experience 1-2 days of mild headaches, muscle pain, and fatigue.
Longer-term side effects are very unlikely. The vaccines expose the body to only a fragment of the virus. Any side effects should be limited to the first few weeks. Both vaccines have at least 2 months of good follow-up safety data (>6 months for Pfizer).
We think the benefits outweigh risks here. The trials have been speedy but this has to do with streamlining bureaucracy and testing such a large exposed group. Development and production accelerated thanks to unprecedented funding, not sloppiness. The data has been transparent and rigorous. We’ll take the vaccine once it is ready.

23/10/2020

Days away from the presidential election, Pres. Trump and Vice Pres. Biden continue to spar over the future of the COVID-19 pandemic. Trump believes he has the situation under control. He noted last night at the final debate, “I can tell you from personal experience, I was in the hospital. I had it and I got better. And I will tell you that I had something that they gave me, a therapeutic, I guess they would call it. Some people could say it was a cure.”
Trump made a rapid recovery days after receiving an experimental antibody “cocktail” made by Regeneron, a treatment still in early trials. He believes it works and is suggesting the US will spend millions of dollars to approve it early and distribute it free to Americans. So what exactly is this drug? And could it be a breakthrough as we head into winter?

06/09/2020

We’re back to discuss two concepts that have generated a lot of heated debate recently. Did the CDC state that only 6% of COVID deaths were FROM COVID, and the other 94% just happened to be COVID+ when they died? To answer that, we break down how to read a death certificate and provide an estimate of the true number of deaths caused by the pandemic. Reshare, like, and subscribe - and send us other controversial COVID or health topics you would like to see an accessible explanation of!

29/07/2020

We created this back in April when hydroxychloroquine was first being publicized as the cure for COVID-19. Yesterday, the president and others shared a video full of misinformation about this drug publicized by a far-right fringe group of physicians (some of whom don't even have a license). We are disappointed to see something that should be apolitical consistently made into a political issue. And we're very disappointed to see some physicians refuse to approach this from a scientific evidence-based perspective.
In this video, we broke down how it supposedly works, the treatment's risks and benefits, the scientific evidence for and against using it. Verdict: We didn't think it would help.
We were right.
A few months later, the FDA has rescinded even the emergency use exception citing consistent risk of heart arrhythmia with little benefit, as proven in trial after trial. Feel free to share with your family or friends looking for a simple evidence-based explanation.

12/05/2020

As Americans prepare for the relaxation of the nationwide COVID-19 shutdown, fierce debate continues to rage about whether it’s really time to resume normal life - and how best to do that. If you’ve watched any news over the last couple weeks, you may have seen the phrase “Antibody Testing” thrown around as a potential solution. Dr. Fauci even suggested Americans could be issued “Immunity Cards” that could authorize them to move around freely like Germany and Chile have done. Needless to say, there was almost immediate pushback and Fauci backed away from that idea. But the interest in antibody testing as a way of certifying Americans as immune to COVID has only intensified. In this video, we explain what this type of test is, and whether it could really be the answer to returning to normal life.

18/04/2020

You have questions, we have answers! We rounded up the other questions people have asked us and wrote short rapid-fire responses along with links to articles that we recommend for further reading! In this first Roundup, we answer:

Why does the virus show varying symptoms in different people? Why do some people get more affected regardless of age?
Why the loss of taste/smell in COVID-positive patients?
Does the virus really stay on surfaces? And for how long?
Does asthma make you higher risk?
Will this really last past April? When can we safely go back to work and how will that look?
How soon will we have a vaccine and can it be a solution?
How can people tangibly help medical professionals?

If you’re just finding our page, we are two medical students dedicated to explaining complex issues in healthcare in way that anyone can…

16/04/2020

After a month of conflicting opinions, the CDC and many local governments have started asking or requiring people to wear cloth masks in public. Do cloth masks even work against COVID-19? Why did the CDC take so long to recommend it? And how do you even go about making and wearing a cloth mask anyway? Your questions researched and answered! If you found this interesting or helpful, like, comment, subscribe and reshare!

10/04/2020

If you’ve been watching the news, you’ve seen the intense debate in recent weeks about a supposed wonder drug, hydroxychloroquine for COVID-19. President Trump and others, reacting to news reports out of France, have called it a “game changer” for the pandemic. Desperate to try something, many doctors and hospitals have gone ahead and prescribed it. But is the hype warranted? Is it safe? In this video we tackle those questions - and demystify the scientific approach to testing new treatments!

09/04/2020

Welcome to DanSquared! Our mission as medical trainees, researchers, and writers is to communicate complex medical and scientific information about controversial or newsworthy topics in ways that anyone can understand and learn from! We will be posting 3-5 minute videos based on YOUR healthcare questions on topics that people are discussing. Topics like “Do we have anything that can cure COVID-19?” or “When will the shutdown end?” Our goal is that anyone of any background could watch our videos and be more informed about the questions that face us as a society and world!

08/04/2020