Casey McKhann
Mr. Ippolito
November 10th, 2020
AP Biology/ Current Event 6
Garcia De Jesus, Erin . "Moderna says its COVID-19 vaccine is nearly 95 percent effective | Science News." Science News, 16 Nov. 2020, https://www.sciencenews.org/article/moderna-vaccine-covid19-coronavirus-early-results.
The large news which came out early last week was the development of a 90% successful COVID-19 vaccine by the pharmaceutical company Pfizer. Now, another company is coming out with a vaccine which is supposed to be even more effective then the Pfizer vaccine. This company is Moderna. The Moderna vaccine is in its 3rd phase of clinical testing and is proving to have 95% effectiveness. While numbers are yet to be peer reviewed by other scientists, it is promising that the company is having a lot of success with the vaccine. However, there are still lots of questions left unanswered. For example, researchers at Moderna still do not know how the vaccine varies based on the age and race of the recipient. They also do not know if the vaccine makes the carrier of COVID-19 unable to spread the disease once they have been vaccinated. These are all questions which the company hopes to answer in the coming months. The Moderna Vaccine does have benefits over the Pfizer vaccine. The Pfizer vaccine needs to be stored at -70 degrees celsius, this could pose a large problem when trying to distribute the vaccine. The Moderna vaccine solves this issue as it only needs to be stored at 5 degrees celsius.
This article is more relevant now than ever. COVID cases continue to surge across America as another wave of the virus hits the nation. It is evident that many areas of the country will have to shut down again. A vaccine seems like a very reasonable solution to help solve this issue. The vaccines talked about in the article are the most likely long term solutions to the pandemic. It is crucial that individuals read articles like this one to inform themselves that there is hope for the future that COVID will be a thing of the past. For now, it is important for each individual to stay updated on the pandemic and the advancement of vaccines.
The article by Erin Garcia de Jesus was written very well. The author did a very good job comparing the vaccines. This allows the reader to create their own decision on which vaccine is more beneficial going forward. The author also did a good job describing the clinical testing phase of the vaccine production. I think the article could have done a better job explaining the earlier stages of the vaccine testing and how long the public should expect until a widespread vaccine is distributed. These would both enable the reader to have a better feeling leaving the article. Overall, I think the article was written very well and described a crucial piece of news.
Garcia De Jesus, Erin . "Moderna says its COVID-19 vaccine is nearly 95 percent effective | Science News." Science News, 16 Nov. 2020, https://www.sciencenews.org/article/moderna-vaccine-covid19-coronavirus-early-results.
ReplyDeleteMcKhann, Casey. “‘Moderna Says Its COVID-19 Vaccine Is Nearly 95 Percent Effective | Science News.’ - Casey McKhann.” Blogspot.com, 17 Nov. 2020, bronxvilleapbiology.blogspot.com/2020/11/moderna-says-its-covid-19-vaccine-is.html. Accessed 17 Nov. 2020.
I thought Casey’s review of “Moderna says its COVID-19 vaccine is nearly 95 percent effective” was very informative and easily digestible for the reader. One thing Casey did very well was summarizing the article very concisely. This is helpful for the reader because it allows them to have a better understanding of the article under review and, in turn, have a better understanding of Casey’s analysis. Another aspect of Casey’s review which I thought he did well was relating this news to the broad issue of Covid. He speaks directly to the short term effects of this (we still may need to shut down due to rising cases) and the long term effects of this news (the vaccine could be the only solution in the long run once enough people get vaccinated). Finally, I thought Casey did a very good job pointing out the shortcomings of this vaccine. While this news is overwhelmingly positive relative to the COVID news we are used to hearing, Casey did a great job pointing out that we do not know much about the extent to which this vaccine will slow the spread of covid. We do not know if this vaccine will prevent people from passing the virus.
Although Casey’s review of this article was very well written, I thought there were a couple of aspects he could have improved upon. Firstly, I thought that he could include one to two quotes from the original article to support summary points or ideas that he was talking about. This not only creates a justification for ideas he sets forth, but also allows the reader to glimpse into the article that he was writing about. Lastly, I thought Casey could have given more insight into how this would affect our Bronxville community and daily life. The article mainly talks about the United States as a whole, but I thought it could have been interesting if he related his ideas to our town. Maybe he could have talked about what the vaccine meant for school capacity or dining in Bronxville during the winter months. Despite these points, I thought Casey did a fine job crafting his review.
I chose this article because I am very interested in learning more about the COVID-19 pandemic. Like the majority of Americans, I am ready to receive a vaccine and get back to normal life. The COVID pandemic has been very disrupting to daily life and learning that there are vaccines above 90% effectiveness is very inspiring to see.
Angelinna Faisca November 17th, 2020
ReplyDeleteCurrent Event #7
AP Bio E/F
Mr.Ippolito
Garcia De Jesus, Erin . "Moderna says its COVID-19 vaccine is nearly 95 percent effective | Science News." Science News, 16 Nov. 2020, https://www.sciencenews.org/article/moderna-vaccine-covid19-coronavirus-early-results.
https://bronxvilleapbiology.blogspot.com
For a review for a current event, I chose to write about Casey’s, which included the review of a article named, "Moderna says its COVID-19 vaccine is nearly 95 percent effective | Science News." This is extremely relevant to our current days of life. Casey gave the summary in total of the article that he was reviewed. In this article the differences between the vaccines that are coming through for COVID-19 were brought to light, naming the differences in which the Pfizer vaccine must be kept at a -70 degrees celsius, while the Moderna vaccine does not require this treatment. Casey does a good job at relating this article to the possibility of the positive effect it could have on us for months to come. I also like how he included how this vaccine could help with the problem of the possibility of many major cities being shut down again, which could show the drastic effects that it did when this pandemic was new in March. This would allow for the economy to rise without the crash that we saw in March. Overall, he included the differences in both vaccines and also gave detail into each vaccine and the positive impact it could have, based on its effectiveness.
I think he could have elaborated more, such as giving more detail into how exactly the vaccines would work, and could have gone into detail about the distribution part about the Moderna vaccine, because these things do take time. I also felt like he didn’t talk about his subject very much, however his subject wasn’t fairly a topic to go into detail about, since it was mainly celebrating the vaccine’s high effectiveness of the second vaccine that was found. I think he also could have used terminology that could have helped in the significance of this story, maybe mentioning the effects that the first vaccine had allegedly had on people. Overall, it was a very good review of this article.
I really enjoyed learning about this article, since it obviously has a major effect on how we will live upon the coming months. I also feel like this gives hope for the future. Especially given the fact that cases are rising, and it is very possible that a shut down may happen, and with a vaccine, it may cause less panic and make government more relaxed towards the idea of having a regular America again, which is an idea that I think all of us want back again, because humans are just not built for this isolation type of deal, which has proven to have devastating effects on all of us.
Garcia De Jesus, Erin . "Moderna says its COVID-19 vaccine is nearly 95 percent effective | Science News." Science News, 16 Nov. 2020, https://www.sciencenews.org/article/moderna-vaccine-covid19-coronavirus-early-results.
ReplyDeleteMcKhann, Casey. “‘Moderna Says Its COVID-19 Vaccine Is Nearly 95 Percent Effective | Science News.’ - Casey McKhann.” Blogspot.com, 17 Nov. 2020, bronxvilleapbiology.blogspot.com/2020/11/moderna-says-its-covid-19-vaccine-is.html. Accessed 17 Nov. 2020.
Casey's review of "Moderna says its COVID-19 vaccine is nearly 95 percent effective" was a really easy yet informative review. I really like how Casey explained the short and long term effects of COVID, like how we may need to stay shut down, and how it all determines on when a vaccine is going to be produced.
Something Casey could work on is how he did not quote anything from the original article. This would have helped him support his points. The lack of traces back to the article makes it hard for the reader to connect his review to the original article.
I chose this article because I believe that I am not very educated about COVID in the United States as I live and am only updated about Hong Kong - Covid relating things.
Milly Koenig November 18th, 2020
ReplyDeleteCurrent Event #7
AP Bio E/F
Mr.Ippolito
Garcia De Jesus, Erin . "Moderna says its COVID-19 vaccine is nearly 95 percent effective | Science News." Science News, 16 Nov. 2020, https://www.sciencenews.org/article/moderna-vaccine-covid19-coronavirus-early-results.
McKhann, Casey. “‘Moderna Says Its COVID-19 Vaccine Is Nearly 95 Percent Effective | Science News.’ - Casey McKhann.” Blogspot.com, 17 Nov. 2020, bronxvilleapbiology.blogspot.com/2020/11/moderna-says-its-covid-19-vaccine-is.html. Accessed 17 Nov. 2020.
I think that Casey did a very good job in his review of the article titled “Moderna says its COVID-19 vaccine is nearly 95 percent effective”, as he did a very effective job summarizing, and making the writing easy for the reader to understand. To begin his review, Casey did a good job summarising the article, in addition to providing essential context for the reader, making the article easy to understand. By providing a lot of background information, the reader was able to better understand the piece and its significance to our society, in addition to being able to better understand Caseys review. Additionally, Casey was able to tie this article to the large scale impact that the vaccine would have and how its optimistic trials have a positive outlook for the country, mentioning both short and long term effects. He talks about how in the short term, the nation may need to lock down again, but with the vaccine on the horizon, when it is mass produced and available, life as we know it may be able to return to ‘normal’. Finally, Casey did a great job being able to identify the negatives and shortcomings of the vaccine. Although the media shows the vaccine as all positive, with it being rushed through trial periods, we are not sure of how effective it will be and if there are any long term detrimental impacts.
Although Caseys review was overall very well written and informative, there are a few things that he could have improved upon to make the writing more direct and informative. First of all, given that this is a science current event, Casey could have provided more information about how vaccines work and compared this vaccine to others. He could go into detail about how vaccines target the immune system in order to prepare the body for when it is exposed to the real virus. Additionally, he failed to mention medical terminology in his review and did not cite specific case studies regarding those who have tried the vaccine as much as he could have.
I chose to review this article because I think it is very interesting to try and keep up with what is happening in the world around us, and in a time of an international health emergency I like to see what advancements are being made to restore society to the way we know it. I am interested in medicine and I found this review and article very interesting and well done, and I find it inspiring and hope provoking that the vaccines are proving to be over 90 percent effective.
ReplyDeleteAnnabelle Krause
AP Bio
11/14
Garcia De Jesus, Erin . "Moderna says its COVID-19 vaccine is nearly 95 percent effective |
Science News." Science News, 16 Nov. 2020, https://www.sciencenews.org/article/moderna-vaccine-covid19-coronavirus-early-results.
McKhann, Casey. “‘Moderna Says Its COVID-19 Vaccine Is Nearly 95 Percent Effective |
Science News.’ - Casey McKhann.” Blogspot.com, 17 Nov. 2020, bronxvilleapbiology.blogspot.com/2020/11/moderna-says-its-covid-19-vaccine-is.html. Accessed 17 Nov. 2020.
Overall, Casey did a really good job with his review of “Moderna says its COVID-19 vaccine is nearly 95 percent effective.” Primarily, Casey supplied a sufficient amount of context that allowed the reader to understand the issue without overdoing it. He discussed the Pfizer vaccine, and the issues that exist with it, to make clear to the reader why the Moderna vaccine is relevant. He did a really good job of being succinct; his review was not overly verbose and convoluted. He gave an appropriate amount of information so that the reader could have a grasp of the topics and decide if they wished to further investigate the topic. Casey also made clear to the reader why this article and why the vaccine is so important. He talked about how a vaccine is the only real long term solution to the pandemic, and how it is “crucial that individuals read articles like this one to inform themselves.” Lastly, he introduced his questions and the concerns about a vaccine early on in his review which helped the reader to form an opinion on if the vaccine is safe or not. He discussed how it is not yet peer reviewed and that there has been very little research on how the vaccine will affect people in the long run. He also brought up the issue of how the vaccine will affect people of different ages and those with health issues, both of which are key questions that must be answered.
Although his review was strong overall, there are a few things that Casey could have done to make it better. Primarily, he could have included quotes from experts. This would have given his review more credibility. It also would have given the reader a taste of the article that he was reviewing so that they could make a more informed decision on whether they agree or not. Also, it would have been nice if Casey had discussed the science behind viruses, vaccines, and immunity more. Not many people know much about these topics, but almost everyone is (and everyone should be) vaccinated, so it would have been interesting for Casey to explain it. Casey could have also addressed the anti-vax movement and their reaction to COVID-19 and the vaccine. I think both of these would have deepened his conversation and my understanding of the vaccine and the issues around it.
I chose this article because it is very relevant, and I am interested in the science behind ending the COVID-19 pandemic. Obviously, COVID-19 is really relevant to all of our lives, so learning about the vaccines and what the next few months will look like is key. I think this article really made clear to me the difference between the Moderna and Pfizer vaccines, which is an important distinction, even if it may not actually have relevance to my decision to get the vaccine. Overall, I really enjoyed Casey’s discussion of why the vaccine is good and important.
Garcia De Jesus, Erin . "Moderna says its COVID-19 vaccine is nearly 95 percent effective. Science News." Science News, 16 Nov. 2020, https://www.sciencenews.org/article/moderna-vaccine-covid19-coronavirus-early-results.
ReplyDeleteMcKhann, Casey. “‘Moderna Says Its COVID-19 Vaccine Is Nearly 95 Percent Effective
Science News.’ - Casey McKhann.” Blogspot.com, 17 Nov. 2020, bronxvilleapbiology.blogspot.com/2020/11/moderna-says-its-covid-19-vaccine-is.html. Accessed 6 Jan. 2020.
For my current event, I read a review by Casey on an article originally published in Science News, titled “Moderna says its COVID-19 vaccine is nearly 95 percent effective | Science News.” First, Casey did an excellent job when writing his introduction because it immediately grabs the reader's attention by discussing the newly discovered modera vaccine. “The large news which came out early last week was the development of a 90% successful COVID-19 vaccine by the pharmaceutical company Pfizer. Now, another company is coming out with a vaccine which is supposed to be even more effective then the Pfizer vaccine. This company is Moderna. The Moderna vaccine is in its 3rd phase of clinical testing and is proving to have 95% effectiveness. ” This caught my attention and made me want to continue reading. Casey also did a good job explaining the importance of the new vaccine. For example, “This article is more relevant now than ever. COVID cases continue to surge across America as another wave of the virus hits the nation. It is evident that many areas of the country will have to shut down again. A vaccine seems like a very reasonable solution to help solve this issue. ” This quote is a key point in the article. Lastly, I appreciate how Casey was able to make a connection between the topic and the reader by clearly explaining how this vaccine is a scientific breakthrough in the world of vaccines and immunology.
Although his review was very well written, there are certain areas in which he could have improved. For example, he should have included more statistics on the vaccine because they allow the reader to understand the topic in greater depth. Secondly, Casey should have more thoroughly explained the key differences in the ingredients of the Pfizer vaccine compared to the Moderna vaccine.
Casey’s current event was very interesting to read and informative. His current event has made me want to learn more about the moderna vaccine and the overall science of vaccines.