Paul Offit is a pediatrician specializing in infectious diseases and an expert in virology and vaccine development. He currently serves on the FDA committee overseeing and evaluating COVID-19 vaccines. In this episode, Paul discusses the strategies and major companies pursuing a vaccine against the SARS-CoV-2 virus. He gets into the nuances of the vaccine approval process and its implications for COVID-19 vaccine outlook. Paul also explains potential risks, reveals his own confidence level in safety, and gives insight into protection against reinfection with vaccination. Please note that this episode was recorded 11/05/2020, prior to the 11/09/2020 news release of the Pfizer vaccine update.

We discuss:
00:00:00 - Intro
00:03:30 - How Paul’s experience as a child in a chronic care hospital as child informed his path in pediatrics and vaccine development
00:08:00 - Addressing the anti-vaccination sentiment and explaining the fraudulent origins of the anti-vaccination movement
00:17:00 - Lessons and insights from 26 years studying rotavirus and creating a successful rotavirus vaccine
00:27:15 - Developing a new vaccine: the different phases of clinical trials, overall timeline, and financial costs
00:32:30 - Operation Warp Speed: the expedited process of creating a coronavirus vaccine
00:35:00 - Various vaccine strategies—RNA, DNA, virus vector—and the challenges associated
00:41:15 - The Moderna and Pfizer mRNA vaccines: strategy, timeline, and Emergency Use Authorization
00:48:30 - Paul’s confidence level in the safety of the first coronavirus vaccines
00:52:15 - The risks associated with different types of vaccines, and updates on the Johnson & Johnson and Astrazeneca coronavirus vaccines
00:55:45 - What we know about the coronavirus vaccines approved in Russia and China
00:57:15 - The latest on the Merck coronavirus vaccine
00:57:45 - The recombinant/purified protein vaccine approach for coronavirus—big players, risks, and the best vaccine for the elderly
01:02:00 - Attenuated and inactivated vaccine strategies for coronavirus
01:02:30 - The genetic drift of SARS-CoV-2: Impacts for protection and vaccine development
01:06:45 - Paul’s take on the hypothesis that a previous coronavirus infection offers protection against the novel COVID-19
01:19:15 - Addressing the concern that antibodies fade over time
01:13:00 - Blood type and protective against coronavirus
01:13:15 - Distribution: the challenge of prioritizing the limited doses of vaccines after approval
01:16:15 - Paul’s perspective on COVID-19 vaccine safety
01:21:45 - Considerations regarding vaccinating children for coronavirus and the role of a fever immune response
01:29 :45 - Why vaccine development can be challenging and risks of current COVID-19 strategies

Show notes page: https://peterattiamd.com/pauloffit/

About:
The Peter Attia Drive is a weekly, ultra-deep-dive podcast focusing on maximizing health, longevity, critical thinking…and a few other things. With over 30 million episodes downloaded, it features topics including fasting, ketosis, Alzheimer’s disease, cancer, mental health, and much more.

Peter is a physician focusing on the applied science of longevity. His practice deals extensively with nutritional interventions, exercise physiology, sleep physiology, emotional and mental health, and pharmacology to increase lifespan (delay the onset of chronic disease), while simultaneously improving healthspan (quality of life).

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