What’s Next?
In 1971 the Who released the album Who’s Next. The album was an immediate success and has been mentioned by many music critics as their best album and one of the greatest albums of all time. Songs from the album include such classic hits as Baba O’Riley, Bargain, Going Mobile, Behind Blue Eyes, and Won’t Get Fooled Again.
The cover artwork shows a photograph, taken at Easington Colliery, a town in County Durham, England, known for a history of coal mining, of the band apparently having just urinated (they are rock stars after all) on a large concrete piling protruding from a slag heap, giving the name of the album a very subtle double-entendre meaning.
Whether this kind of imagery is offensive or not is up for debate. I will note that in 2003 the music channel VH1 named it as one of the greatest album covers of all time.
As the roll-out of vaccines for COVID-19 progresses – it seems we are moving from the who’s next phase – prioritizing who gets the vaccines first – to the what’s next phase. Trying to figure out next steps.
According to a recently published on-line article (https://yhoo.it/3zeyfJV) that quoted John Beigel, associate director for clinical research in the Division of Microbiology and Infectious Diseases at the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), one of the main questions is when a booster shot will be needed.
Beigel is currently working on a trial to test whether people can mix and match vaccines if the need arises.
Other questions that need to be answered include:
- What level of immunity is too low to protect people?
- How long does it typically take for immunity to decay to that level?
- How to best boost people's immunity.
Scientists and researchers are working on finding out the answers to all these questions as soon as possible. Unfortunately, the most important piece of the puzzle – data - is limited. Without data, the information needed to make decisions and answer the above questions is nearly impossible.
Hopefully, as more data is collected and analyzed we will get a clearer picture and be able to answer the big questions of what’s next.
Mike Auerbach - Editor-In-Chief - [email protected]
Subscribe to our e-Newsletters
Stay up to date with the latest news, articles, and events. Plus, get special offers
from American Pharmaceutical Review – all delivered right to your inbox! Sign up now!