Walter Isaacson, the author of "The Code Breaker: Jennifer Doudna, Gene Editing, and the Future of the Human Race," joins Andrea Mitchell to discuss his experience participating in Pfizer's Covid-19 vaccine trial. Isaacson says, "There's no bravery here, this thing is totally safe, but just like you do jury duty or maybe vote or whatever it may be, the notion of participating in a clinical trial is something we all can do." Aired on 11/11/2020.
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About Andrea Mitchell: Andrea Mitchell is NBC News’ chief foreign affairs correspondent and host of MSNBC's "Andrea Mitchell Reports," an hour of political news and interviews with top newsmakers that airs each weekday at 12 p.m. ET on MSNBC.
In addition to politics, Mitchell covers foreign policy, intelligence and national security issues, including the diplomacy of Secretary of State John Kerry, for all NBC News and MSNBC properties.
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Walter Isaacson Shares Experience With Pfizer Vaccine Trial | Andrea Mitchell | MSNBC
America is
23 in education.
25 in democracy index.
34 in raising family index.
37 in healthcare.
No high-speed train.
Highest number of homeless people.
Highest number of incarcerated people.
78% of people live paycheck to paycheck.
Stock market is not economy of Americans! Where 90% of money belongs to top 10% of the population, it’s wallet for the rich.
Let’s talk like adults, instead of name calling.
I have left the proof on my playlist, if you would like to check!
Let’s make our country better together. .. .. .
Well, at-least America is no China! China is worse than America! They are the ones that brought COVID-19 here for several months after all..
With Joe Biden maybe we will do better as your comment informs..
I agree with you though
Vaccines are one of the greatest achievements of the human intellect.
I’m looking forward to these vaccines – not only the Pfizer one but others that seem promising – being certified for general use and distributed. They are obviously going to be the key to ending this pandemic and truly getting back to normal life. Until then, we have to live under these restrictions – not travelling, not visiting friends or relatives, and wearing face masks everywhere we go – simply to avoid causing misery and death in incredible numbers.
A sufficiently high rate of vaccination should yield herd immunity, without the human cost of simply letting the disease wash over the entire population. The latter is what some maniacs would have us do. This isn’t the fourteenth century any more; we can do better than that.
Well stated.
Pfizer didn’t take any government “Warp Speed” funds, but Trump taking credit like he practically invented the vaccine.
@rtorres81rc The vaccine was not developed by Pfizer, but by a German biotech startup, BioNTech. They used money from the German government to develop this vaccine. Pfizer just teamed up with them to provide production assistance, and the US gave Pfizer money because they’ve bought millions of doses. When you buy a dress in a store, you can’t take credit for its design.
@Deniz D. Pfizer is there to produce at scale, BioNTech is too small for that, but did develop this vaccine candidate. It is a coorperation. That said Trump should thank Merkel because in his warped logic the conclusion would be it was her success.
@jan van eyke EXACTLY!!! Donny’s attempt for votes only.
Oh , not Pfitzer developed the Vaccine , its the German Company BioNTech … and they got 445 Million Dollar from the German Taxpayer as funding https://www.msn.com/en-us/health/medical/biontech-gets-dollar445-million-in-german-funding-for-vaccine/ar-BB193Ijj
Pfitzer only helped with the Trials and gave Money , the Brain behind the Vaccine is an Turkish Emigrant in Germany , he is CEO of BioNTech
Pfitzer will get a License ( i believe ) Read my post above
@rtorres81rc But pay attention to the words you quote: it is for *manufacturing* and later. It hasn’t started yet!
What we need is a vaccine against stupidity.
It wouldn’t be possible to produce enough doses.
It’s called the ‘off’ switch. Variations are ‘comments disabled ‘ or ‘flagged as not factual’ button.
Just stop making ORANGE KOOLAID!
We germans would fund that too😉
In the works. Read
BRAVE NEW WORLD
Walter’s explanation of mRNA is just perfect for a lay audience! Just want to add one thing, RNA differs from DNA by the sugar molecules making up the “backbone”. DNA contains deoxyribose and RNA contains ribose, both pentose sugars.
Cool.
@conny lake Actually, I id not find the explanation so good: so what if our own cells use the RNA to make spike proteins? That is what the virus does, too. To understand how the vaccine works, we need to know 1) why the spikes are not harmful when made by our own cells and 2) how the immune system is triggered by the spike proteins made by our own cells. When the virus makes it, after all, it is exposed to the immune system only after lysis, which we do *not* want from the vaccine!
The “Pfizer” vaccine was developed by the German company Biontec and financed by the German government! Not by project warp speed or made by Trump!
@rtorres81rc Not we – YOU. Trump lied, downplayed, ignored and endangered our entire country with his ignorance and arrogance. He did not utilize the National Security Council’s pandemic playbook.
Which makes it more credible. But I’ll wait for others to take it first.
@Hazel Em – I’m with you. I’ll wait 1 yr to see how mass amounts of people react to it and if all is well, then I’ll take it.
@mangalores-x_x UK has to order extra 40 million doses as they are not part of the EU anymore. But in January they can’t import them anymore due to Brexit as they first have to certify it in the UK as they don’t accept EU certification after the no deal Brexit! Hahaha they are as stupid as republicans!
I don’t think he ment that Pfizer didn’t get money. Just that Pfizer didn’t make this placebo vaccine they are jumping to take credit for. This was prearranged before the election when they were paid the 1.95 billion dollars of our tax money to claim credit for whom ever made some kind of vaccine to make Trump look like a coat tail hero . That money was just a promised pay off to Pfizer for their support of his election/reelection.
The code of life.
REMEMBER that term.
So cool.
HISTORIC!
The economy can’t bounce back until the virus is contained. Saying we’re “ROUNDING THE CURVE” and downplaying it, obviously has made it much worse than any other country.
Great interview without interruptions, clever and informative.
So, would this vaccine be considered something that would make us a GMO?
I’m not against that, if it works – just curious if it is along the same principle as foods that are GMO.
No, it does not modify our genome (that would be DNA). It just has our bodies produce one of the thousands upon thousands of proteins found in a coronavirus for a couple of weeks, so that our immune system can be trained to recognise it.
Remember trump tried to buy the vaccine from Germany. But we don’t like our allies and we don’t work with women, unless they genuflect. Merkel just said NO
*stop saying pfizers vaccine. Its by Biontech, a german company! Wtf? It was developed in Mainz Germany, not the US. Pfizer only supported with money.!* … Thanks!!!
” . . . take a scissors and cut up our genes so we can edit our gene . . . ” – so glad I am on my way out. LOL, that just seems too creepy for me!
Anything that sounds like a walk in the park with a big smile on your face, sounds a little disconcerting – don’t you think?
IT’S NO WALK IN THE PARK!!!
What is the genetic code for Stupid?
We desperately need a vaccine for that…
“No bravery here. This thing is totally safe”
Says the person in a *SAFETY TRIAL* of a totally *New Type* of vaccine.
The mRNA vaccine is cheap and fast. Doesn’t need to be grown, but manufactured. *IF* the data says it’s safe, then i will take it.
But let’s be honest with people. It’s the *FIRST* mRNA vaccine approved for humans: IF it gets approved, that is.
I’m sure the waiver he signed does not say the vaccine is 100% safe.
What I want to know is he running around or staying at home
Isaacson: “My favorite molecule. Everybody loves DNA” love listening to him