The New Normal in California #2: How Will This Thing (Hopefully) End?

California Groundbreakers

Over the next few weeks – or however long it takes before we are allowed to leave our houses again – we’ll be looking at the ways our coronavirus-affected lives are changing over the short- and long-term, and talking with Californians making significant change in this New Normal. In episode #1 of this series, we talked with a UC Davis epidemiologist about how COVID-19 got its start. In this episode, we‘re asking the question: How will it meet its end? How close are we to a vaccine? Will it kill it, or will it mutate and come back? In the meantime, should we start giving out "immunity passports?" Telling us what they know so far about all this are two UC Davis medical researchers who are part of the global team working round-the-clock on the race to create an effective vaccine. Listen to our talk with: * Chris Miller, core scientist in the Infectious Diseases Unit at UC Davis National Primate Research Center * Nam Tran, professor of clinical chemistry in the UC Davis Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine about how they’re fighting COVID-19, what methods they’re testing to stop it in its tracks, and whether we can hope for an ultimate cure. PODCAST PLAY-BY-PLAY * 0 to 3:55 min - Intro to California Groundbreakers, and why we're doing this series * 3:55 min - Who these guys are, and how they"fell" into their fields of research * 5:40 min - Why Tran called Miller and told him to "drop everything" and join his team to create diagnostic testing and a vaccine for COVID-19 * 9:20 min - Where UC Davis fits into the global race and collaborative efforts of scientists to create a vaccine * 13:50 min - In visual terms, what would a vaccine look like, and how would it act, to effectively attack COVID-19? * 17:15 min - What they know -- and what they know they DON'T know -- about COVID-19 * 24:10 min - What is serology testing, and are "immunity passports" a good idea? * 29:25 min - Two types of experimental drugs getting a lot of media attention -- what is their potential for being the wonder vaccine? * 33:30 min - In the race to create this vaccine, how safe will it be to try options on human "guinea pigs"? * 45 min - Annual shot or the ultimate end-it-all cure: Trying to predict the future of COVID-19