I agree that the rapid development of the vaccines has been a near miracle and that we will likely have two highly effective vaccines in arms in less than a year is an immense accomplishment.
One brobdingnagian part of this achievement, a fundamental one, was the release of the genome of the SARS-Cov2 virus, by Chinese researcher Yong-Zhen Zhang, through the twitter account of an Australian collaborator on Jan 11th (see MT, the medium has some merit).
Without that Moderna and Pfizer/BioNTech would not have been able to design these mRNA vaccines, which were designed within days of that release, and without those companies having any virus themselves. This was a brave decision made by an individual in a totalitarian state. His lab did face some repercussions for acting without authorization from above, but thankfully that seems all in the past.
This from Zeynep Tufecki is excellent on his story.
https://zeynep.substack.com/p/the-pandem...ave-us-the
What a true hero, who saved countless lives through his research and bravery in sharing it.
One brobdingnagian part of this achievement, a fundamental one, was the release of the genome of the SARS-Cov2 virus, by Chinese researcher Yong-Zhen Zhang, through the twitter account of an Australian collaborator on Jan 11th (see MT, the medium has some merit).
Without that Moderna and Pfizer/BioNTech would not have been able to design these mRNA vaccines, which were designed within days of that release, and without those companies having any virus themselves. This was a brave decision made by an individual in a totalitarian state. His lab did face some repercussions for acting without authorization from above, but thankfully that seems all in the past.
This from Zeynep Tufecki is excellent on his story.
https://zeynep.substack.com/p/the-pandem...ave-us-the
What a true hero, who saved countless lives through his research and bravery in sharing it.