The following article summarizes the original event which is listed below the summary.
About those vaccines
On November 10, one day after Pfizer announced preliminary results for their COVID-19 vaccine, Timothy Schacker, MD, was our featured speaker for UMRA A.M. He talked about the current efforts to develop, test, and distribute vaccines to prevent more infections. Dr. Schacker is an infectious disease specialist and vice dean for Research in the University of Minnesota Medical School.
Soon after learning of the COVID-19 outbreak, the U’s Office of the Vice President for Research mobilized Rapid Response Grants in the range of $10,000 to $20,000 each, to catalyze basic science and small-scale research related to the pandemic. More than $818,000 was awarded for 75 proposals in areas including pathogenetics, engineering, epidemiology, immunology, public health, point-of-care testing, and care improvement.
One project funded the design of a diagnostic nasal swab test that within three months was being used 10,000 times per day. Another project focused on the detection of the SARS-CoV-2 virus in municipal wastewater, as a means of an early warning system, in 44 sites around the state.
One of the most notable achievements
It was on January 5, 2020 that the first reports of the unusual pneumonia found in Wuhan, China, arrived. Ten days later, the genetic sequence of the virus was published, and just 300 days later more than 90,000 people were enrolled in Phase 3 trials of vaccines to prevent COVID-19.
Dr. Schacker described this as one of the most notable achievements in medical history. The average time to develop vaccines for other infectious diseases including polio, HPV, and chicken pox was 11 years. He expressed confidence in the new vaccines, which look to be more than 90 percent effective.
Broad distribution is expected to begin early in 2021, but until we reach “herd immunity,” Dr. Schacker reminded us, we’ll all need to continue to wash hands, maintain distance, and wear masks.
—Jan Morlock, UMRA president-elect and Program Committee chair
UMRA A.M | The quest for a vaccine
Tue, November 10 2020, 9am
Timothy Schacker, MD
Vice Dean for Research
U of M Medical School
Event to be held via Zoom.
It feels like everyone is holding their breath for the development of a vaccine that can help to free us from the grip of the coronavirus pandemic. For most of us not involved in research, we wonder what it takes to find a vaccine that’s safe and effective. What are the challenges in making it widely available and accepted by enough of us to break the grip of this disease? And what are researchers and clinicians at the University of Minnesota doing related to this quest to get through the pandemic?
Please register and join us for this Zoom webinar on November 10 at 9 a.m.
Timothy Schacker, MD, an infectious disease specialist at the University of Minnesota Medical School, is a leader in this effort.
You are invited to join Dr. Timothy Schacker for an eye-opening UMRA A.M. on Tuesday, November 10. Dr. Schacker will be introduced by UMRA President Frank Cerra, MD, former U of M Medical School dean and senior vice president for Health Sciences.
Current efforts underway
Dr. Schacker will talk about the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic and the multifaceted approach that has been used to diagnose, treat, and prevent COVID-19, and he will highlight the current efforts underway to develop, test, and distribute a vaccine to prevent infection.
In addition to his role as a professor of medicine and director of the U’s Program in HIV Medicine, Dr. Schacker is vice dean for research in the Medical School. After receiving his MD from the University in 1986, he completed a residency in internal medicine at the Oregon Health Sciences University and an infectious disease fellowship at the University of Washington. He joined the U of M faculty in 1996.
Dr. Schacker has been named one of the Best Doctors in America (twice) and a Top Doctor by Minneapolis-St. PaulMagazine.
—Jan Morlock, UMRA president-elect and Program Committee chair
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