I am a Mexicana, and I participated in one of the SARS-CoV-2 vaccine trials! Unfortunately, I was a placebo arm. Now, I'm fully vaccinated! This is my experience after receiving both injections. There have been efforts by the FDA to increase the participation of historically underrepresented groups in clinical trials.... read more →
September 2020, I made the decision to participate in one of the SARS-CoV-2 vaccine trials. There is still vaccine hesitancy. My participation in this trial, along with my blog posts, are all in hopes of increasing transparency, and building trust within the trial community. You can follow my journey beginning... read more →
I thought it was pertinent I take the chance and sign up for the SARS-CoV-2 vaccine trial. This summer I began my journey. The trial I’m in contains two separate injections several weeks apart. It’s been a month since my second injection. The question remains, am I safe from COVID-19?... read more →
Working with life science organizations who create vaccines that help patients, I thought it was apt to immerse myself in the vaccine approval process given the opportunity. I signed up for the SARS-CoV-2 vaccine trial. I wrote about the beginning of this vaccination journey, and below is the first follow-up... read more →
It’s one thing to participate in a scientific study. But to participate in a vaccine trial for a virus in the middle of a pandemic around said virus? This is a once in a lifetime opportunity! I’ll be writing a series on my experience participating in a SARS-CoV-2 trial. Since... read more →
In my last post, I briefly touched on COVID-19 and older adults. In this post, I will take a short, basic data tour of the skilled nursing home COVID-19 data made available by the CDC. COVID-19 and Nursing Homes Late February, in Washington state, Stat News reported the first COVID-19... read more →
COVID-19 and Black, Hispanic, and Indigenous People Last month, Americans were protesting against the stay-at-home orders in the name of opening the economy as unemployment rates steadily increased. Looking at Twitter, you’ll see many tweets like the one below, pining to reopen. People are aching to go back to “normal.”... read more →
On March 9th, 2020, HHS Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology (ONC) and Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) finalized two open data rules: CMS’ interoperability and patient access rule ONC’s Cures Act Hosted by Ogilvy Consulting, several industry leaders discussed the new rules and what... read more →
People are talking about hydroxychloroquine and coronavirus. And others are looking to grab some for personal use. But what is it, and can it help the thousands of people currently fighting the virus? What is Hydroxychloroquine? The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) describes chloroquine as a medicine... read more →
What is CAR T-cell Therapy? CAR T-cell therapy is immunotherapy. Physicians extract one type of white blood cell, the T-cell, copious amounts of these cells from the patient’s blood. Then, an inactive virus is inserted into the cell, specifically to place a gene in the cell. Next, the T-cell produces... read more →