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Canadian scientists creating COVID-19 vaccines have a problem: too many vaccinated Canadians.
The country’s accelerating immunization campaign means domestic developers likely can’t test their product against a placebo at home, prompting some to eye overseas trials or other alternatives to prove their vaccines work.
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Dr. Volker Gerdts’s team at the University of Saskatchewan’s Vaccine and Infectious Disease Organization (VIDO) started work on a COVID-19 vaccine in January 2020. But participants in their phase one trial are dropping out as they become eligible for approved vaccines.
In fact, B.1.1.7 seems to have the edge over nearly every variant identified so far. At a congressional hearing on Tuesday, Dr. Rochelle P. Walensky, the director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, said B.1.1.7 made up 72 percent of cases in the country.
“We’re really seeing B.1.1.7 pushing out other variants decisively,” said Emma Hodcroft, an epidemiologist at the University of Bern.
The variants identified in California and New York turned out to be only moderately more contagious than older versions of the virus, and much of their initial success may have been luck. The overall boom in cases last fall amplified what might otherwise have gone undetected.
How the United States Beat the Variants, for Now nytimes.com - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from nytimes.com Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
Another Group of Scientists Calls for Further Inquiry Into Origins of the Coronavirus
Researchers urge an open mind, saying lack of evidence leaves theories of natural spillover and laboratory leak both viable.
Bats being collected for research and analysis in Guandong Province, China, in 2019. “Theories of accidental release from a lab and zoonotic spillover both remain viable,” scientists wrote.Credit.EcoHealth Alliance
May 13, 2021Updated 2:33 p.m. ET
A group of 18 scientists stated Thursday in a letter published in the journal Science that there is not enough evidence to decide whether a natural origin or an accidental laboratory leak caused the Covid-19 pandemic.
James Gorman and Carl Zimmer, The New York Times
Published: 14 May 2021 01:51 AM BdST
Updated: 14 May 2021 01:51 AM BdST A photo provided by EcoHealth Alliance shows researchers collecting samples from bats for analysis in Guangdong province, China, in April 2019. A group of 18 scientists stated Thursday, May 13, 2021, in a letter published in the journal Science that there is not enough evidence to decide whether a natural origin or an accidental laboratory leak caused the COVID-19 pandemic. (EcoHealth Alliance via The New York Times)
A group of 18 scientists stated Thursday in a letter published in the journal Science that there is not enough evidence to decide whether a natural origin or an accidental laboratory leak caused the COVID-19 pandemic.