Speed bumps: extra links
More information on genetic modification and the Oxford/ AstraZeneca vaccine
Last week I talked about one of the most important Covid-19 vaccines globally: the Oxford/ AstraZeneca vaccine. This vaccine opened my eyes to the world of genetically modified vaccines. When I saw it on the list of vaccines for which New Zealand had advance purchase agreements, I realised that we could be heading for some difficult conversations and decisions. Was New Zealand ready to accept widespread use of a genetically modified vaccine?
And so I began learning about the role that genetic modification played in vaccine development. I realised that other vaccines also used this technology. I learned about the Ebola vaccine, and realised that there might be no vaccine at all for Ebola without genetic modification. It had been some years since I’d thought about my own position on the issue, and I realised that I needed to know more.
Even though the urgency has gone from the discussion, since we are using the Pfizer/ BioNTech vaccine in New Zealand, I still think we should be having the conversation.
If you want to learn more about how genetic modification was used to make the Oxford/ AstraZeneca vaccine, this article gives a short overview of how it’s done, as well as some background into some of the other stories about the vaccine. There’s a more detailed article which looks at the history of how the vaccine was developed – making the point that the vaccine wasn’t actually developed quickly, because a lot of the research needed had already been done by the time Covid-19 showed up.
If you’d like to go into more depth on the issues with this vaccine – and there have been a few – then this article gives a good picture. For more on the blood clot risk, here’s a good article from a writer on Substack which looks at the cases of blood clot reported in Germany. From this article, it does look as if there is potentially a real link even though it’s still very rare.
The Turnstone comes out once a week. I write an original article once a fortnight and on alternate weeks I share some of my older writing, or some links related to the previous week’s article. I’ve also got some exciting news. Look out for my new logo in the next few weeks!
As always, let me know if you have any questions that you’d like me to answer through my articles.
Do you know someone who might enjoy The Turnstone? Please forward it to them.
Did you receive The Turnstone from a friend? You can subscribe and receive it directly every week.
Do you want to see more of The Turnstone? All of the stories can be found in the archive, here.