SILVER SPRING, Md. — On. Jan. 10, the day Chinese scientists published the coronavirus’s genetic sequence, Kayvon Modjarrad received a late-night call from his colleague Dr. Gordon Joyce, chief of the Emerging Infectious Diseases branch’s structural biology section at the Walter Reed Army Institute of Research.
Story continuesThe stillness is partly explained by the fact that many of the building’s roughly 1,500-strong workforce are now practicing social distancing by working from home. But it also owes something to the fact that the vaccine team has been divided into shifts to enable its vital work to continue on a 24/7 basis.
A New Jersey native and a graduate of Duke University, where he studied biology, Modjarrad received MD, master of public health and doctorate degrees from the University of Alabama. His work on HIV, Ebola, Middle East respiratory syndrome and severe acute respiratory syndrome has made him one of the country’s leading authorities in vaccine development. Now he faces perhaps his greatest challenge, leading the U.S.
“In these situations, the seas part and you can go as fast as the science will allow you,” he said. “That’s an amazing thing for a scientist and a physician like myself, to be able to really just go full speed and the science is the limit to get to a product.
Because SARS-CoV-2 has emerged in humans so recently, it has not had much time to mutate, which means vaccines currently in development, if they prove effective, will likely be applicable “to all the virus strains in the world,” Modjarrad said. However, “the longer something’s in the population, the more opportunity it has to mutate,” he said.
ChinesePropaganda
How can a vaccine be worked on for a virus in advance of its emergence? I’m sure they’re not all the same if they were we would have cured the common cold long ago
Health Health Latest News, Health Health Headlines
Similar News:You can also read news stories similar to this one that we have collected from other news sources.
Source: MSNBC - 🏆 469. / 51 Read more »