Iowa at the forefront of COVID-19 research’and much of it by Stan Perlman’

Iowa City — Stanley Pearlman, a coronavirus expert at the University of Iowa, sits at the table like last week’s Pfizer when a U.S. Food and Drug Administration committee discusses an emergency use authorization for the second COVID-19 vaccine later this week. get together. -BioNTech discussion.

Pfizer’s debate continued throughout the day, with 22 members of the Commission logging in to the virtual event and eventually voting 17-4 with a single abstention, urgently bringing the first COVID-19 vaccine to market. Recommended to approve.

Perlman was one of those who voted in favor, and he told The Gazette that he didn’t know exactly why the opposition voted “against.” However, the group had a long debate about whether to include 16 and 17 years old. With approval.

“But I don’t even remember what they said,” he said. “In fact, that’s one of the things I want to know. I’ll try to understand it. I’m planning to hold another meeting this week about the Moderna vaccine, so more information about why people voted against it. I hope you get. “

As a temporary voting member of the FDA’s Vaccine and Related Biologics Advisory Board, Perlman received presentations on vaccines from Pfizer and BioNTech, the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and others last Thursday due to his expertise in this area.

Given all that information and his own knowledge (extensive) in the field, Perlman discovered the science behind the sound of 95 percent efficacy of vaccines.

“Some things were compelling,” he said. “First, from a safety standpoint, we know that most safety issues occur in the first two months. And since this vaccine has been in use for two months, we have considerable knowledge of safety. Is required.

“When it came to effectiveness, it was better than anyone could imagine,” he said. “It’s more protective and has minimal side effects.”

The FDA-approved vaccine, recommended by the Pearlman Commission the day after, penetrated the arms of front-line healthcare professionals across the United States on Monday, including Pearlman’s hometown of UI Hospitals and Clinics.

Patricia Winnockle, Executive Dean of UI Carver Medical College and Principal Investigator at UI’s Pfizer clinical trial site, was one of the UIHC leaders vaccinated on Monday. In a comment to the reporter, she praised Perlman’s work as paving the way for this year’s rapid COVID-19 vaccine development.

“One of the notable things is that Iowa is at the forefront of this, much of it by Stan Perlman, who has worked on the coronavirus and created the science to help obtain this vaccine. It was produced very quickly, “says Winokur.

Following the epidemic of COVID-19, Perlman, a professor of microbiology, immunology, and pediatrics, has shared 40 years of coronavirus research and expertise with many national and international groups. In fact, we are part of an international committee that has named the virus SARS. CoV-2.

In addition to participating in the FDA Advisory Board and others, Perlman assists with the CDC Immunization Implementation Advisory Board, which makes recommendations on how to use vaccines.

The public may feel that the COVID-19 vaccine was developed in just a few months, but Perlman’s many years of work is a starting point and serves as evidence of the need to continue funding scientific research.

“I was dealing with the coronavirus many years ago,” he said. “The only illness people got from the coronavirus was the cold, so it wasn’t really the area where many people worked … but we just kept moving forward, learning about the virus, SARS and MERS. It worked in mice … and when COVID-19 hit, it became easier to proceed with viruses and other treatments. “

Perlman said more research was done in this area, especially with COVID-19, on whether the approved vaccine would prevent the asymptomatic epidemic, whether it would be safe for children and pregnant women, and how long the protection would last. Said it needs to be done.

On Thursday, Perlman gave lessons for the country as a whole to prepare for the next from this pandemic as it headed for a second meeting that promised as much efficacy as the first vaccine for the COVID-19 vaccine produced by Moderna. He said he should learn.

These lessons include keeping track of viruses emerging around the world, maintaining protective equipment and ventilator storage, and strengthening testing and contact tracing plans and procedures, he said. Said. He said he remained vigilant against disinformation and politicization on public health issues.

“This country is very polarized,” he said. “You need to have leadership and you need to have the belief that this is a real illness. There is a lot of false information that it wasn’t really a problem and it was a minor illness. There was, and you can’t do that because people are trying to believe it. And wearing a mask would be a political statement, but that’s really disappointing. “

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