Just an update on general safety of the vaccines: As of March 5 there have been 1,277 deaths attributed to the vaccines. https://wonder.cdc.gov/controller/datarequest/D8;jsessionid=146070D3878C97F263620F043E02?stage=results&action=toggle&p=O_show_totals&v=true

This new finding demands immediate study

In a study published last month in Vascular Pharmacology, Yuichiro J. Suzuki, a professor at the Department of Pharmacology and Physiology at Georgetown University, and co-workers discovered that the spike protein of SARS-CoV-2 is enough to trigger a response in lab-cultured human endothelial and smooth muscle cells from the lungs’ blood vessels. Yes, just the spike protein, without the whole virion or its genome. — Shin Jie Yong, Neurobiology MSc postgrad in Malaysia

The new mRNA vaccines like Moderna, pFizer-BioNTech, Astra-Zeneca and others are being hailed as the technological breakthroughs that will spawn a…

From the study abstract: "The recombinant protein that contains only the ACE2 receptor-binding domain of the SARS-CoV-2 spike protein S1 subunit (Arg319 – Phe541), on the other hand, did not cause this activation." Am I right that it is in fact this is the protein that the vaccines cause cells to manufacture? If so, that would tend to reinforce the safety of them.

Akiko - Great article, and can't tell you how much I love that you are addressing this. Considering your expertise, I would like to ask you an unrelated question or two to do with the mRNA vaccines: 1. What shuts off the cell manufacturing spike proteins? 2. Do the cell manufactured spike proteins have the ability to attach to ACE-2 receptors? Thanks!

What you do not mention at all is that over the course of acquiring that wisdom, we have struggled against hardship many times, and increasingly, as we ourselves were ok, helped others do the same. We understand the importance of helping others - not because we are forced to by government laws and taxation, but because it is the right, the caring, the human thing to do. So do not assume the elderly do not contribute both time/energy and money to charities and church-based good works. Oh, and buying "luxuries" means somebody gets paid to provide them. I am constantly amazed at widespread inability to understand how economies work.

Well done Shin Jie Yong. You have expressed exactly what I have seen in my research as a writer for the laboratory industry. Nice to see some logic and clarity.

Studies mentioned here in passing showed a correlation of vitamin D present in covid patients and better outcomes (but no proof of causation). My guess is that people who spend a lot of time in the sunshine - and that usually means they are getting exercise too - are probably healthier generally, and producing vitamin D is a product of that rather than a reason for it (sunshine exposure allows the body to manufacture vitamin D). This is at least anecdotally backed up by the fact that about 30 or so of us soccer players 50 years old and older (I'm 65) have continued to play regularly since last March. There have only two cases, and one was asymptomatic, the other mild. In our larger soccer community, which has continued to play regularly for most of the pandemic, there have been no deaths and only one case requiring hospitalization.

Businesses around the country face another year of pandemic-generated disruption and cannabis and hemp testing labs are no exception. Even though vaccines are finally making their way beyond healthcare’s front lines, it will be at least late summer before the risk of COVID-19 spread declines. With the potential for vaccine-resistant variants or new pandemic vectors, we may never return to the old normal.

As labs prepare for this long-term reality, they must take a hard look at the short-term measures they instituted in 2020. …