Tag: COVID-19 vaccines

Why grandparents can’t find vaccines: Scarcity of niche biotech ingredients

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Lipid nanoparticles for RNA vaccines were used in small quantities a year ago. Now Pfizer and Moderna can’t get enough.

Acuitas Therapeutics, a tiny biotechnology firm in Vancouver, B.C., has just 30 employees and leases its labs from the University of British Columbia. The company doesn’t even have a sign on its building. Until last year, it outsourced production of only small volumes of lipid nanoparticles, fat droplets used to deliver RNA into cells, for research and a single approved treatment for a rare disease.

But now, one of Acuitas’s discoveries has become a precious commodity. A proprietary molecule called an ionizable cationic lipid is a crucial piece of the mRNA vaccine made by Pfizer and its German partner BioNTech, and it is in urgent demand for production of billions of vaccine doses worldwide.

Scaling up production of formerly niche substances such as lipid nanoparticles for a global vaccine drive has been among the most complex challenges facing the Biden administration as it aims to ramp up the frustratingly slow provision of shots across the country, according to interviews with company officials and outside scientists and government reports. Continue reading.

Gov. Walz and Lt. Gov. Flanagan Weekly Update: February 19, 2021

More Than 1 Million COVID-19 Vaccine Doses Administered to Minnesotans

21-02-19 1 Million Doses Image


Minnesotans have received more than one million doses of COVID-19 vaccine, Governor Walz announced today. The state reported 1,016,210 doses had been administered as of today’s official report. The seven-day rolling average of doses administered is now 29,705, a pace that has accelerated since Governor Walz took action to increase the rate of vaccinations across the state.

Continue reading “Gov. Walz and Lt. Gov. Flanagan Weekly Update: February 19, 2021”

New Plan for Vaccines and Restaurants


Hi Neighbors,

From meeting with constituents to advocating for Minnesota small businesses to supporting accelerated COVID-19 vaccine distribution, it’s another busy week in Washington. Here’s what I’ve been up to: 

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I had a great meeting with Climate Generation about the importance 
of combatting climate change in the 117th Congress

Saving Our Restaurants

Minnesota chefs got some love during the Super Bowl, but the COVID-19 pandemic is putting the survival of America’s 500,000 independent restaurants and their 11 million employees in jeopardy. As a new member of the House Small Business Committee, I helped lead my colleagues in calling for immediate support for restaurants, which are uniquely impacted by the pandemic. Restaurants are the heart of our communities, and a targeted grant program should be a top priority in our relief negotiations.

Continue reading “New Plan for Vaccines and Restaurants”

New coronavirus variants accelerate race to make sure vaccines keep up

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NOTE: This article is provided free to read by The Washington Post.

Moderna has begun developing a new vaccine against the South African variant as a precaution

The scientific and pharmaceutical race to keep coronavirus vaccines ahead of new virus variants escalated Monday, even as a highly transmissible variantfirst detected in people who had recently traveled to Brazil was discovered in Minnesota.

Moderna, the maker of one of the two authorized coronavirus vaccines in the United States, announced it would develop and test a new vaccine tailored to block a similar mutation-riddled virus variant in case an updated shot becomes necessary.

The effort is a precautionary step. Evidence released Monday suggested that the Moderna vaccine will still work against two variants of concern that emerged in the United Kingdom and South Africa. The plan highlights that the scientists who responded with unprecedented speed and success to develop coronavirus vaccines are already moving to address new challenges. It also amplifies the urgency of getting as many people immunized with current vaccines as quickly as possible.

As COVID-19 vaccines roll out, facemasks will still be essential

Getting vaccinated for COVID-19 won’t provide immunity from the public health directives to wear a cloth face mask in public.

“We are going to be in this mask phase well into 2021,” predicted Dr. Anthony Harris, associate medical director at occupational health firm WorkCare. “It won’t be until fall of next year that you’ll begin to see masks not being a part of our normal day-to-day, at the earliest.”

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has authorized two COVID-19 vaccines so far, including Moderna’s vaccine, which got a green light Friday. Randomized clinical trials involving more than 70,000 people documented 94 to 95% fewer cases of COVID in adults who got vaccinated vs. those who received a placebo. Continue reading.