I hope Carol and J.D. don't get upset with me with all this science, but with so many of us trying to plan our future visits to St. Martin some time in 2021, and because I'm privy to 'inside information' from my youngest son, I thought it would be helpful to share this information from him with those on this forum. It may help you plan accordingly. Our youngest son Andrew is a molecular biologist and field application scientist who was previously working with cell-based medicines and their potential treatment of brain cancer, especially glioblastoma, in California. But, last spring he was reassigned to work with COVID-19 research as his company had entered into collaboration agreements to work with many of the large bio tech and large pharmaceutical companies and universities both in the states and Canada. He has worked throughout the summer and fall with such companies as Eli Lilly, Novartis, Johnson & Johnson, and the University of British Columbia, among others. He's very patient with me when I ask him questions about his work, and some things he is not permitted to pass on to me, but through recent text messages regarding the topics above here's information you typically won't see on national news that you may find useful.

1. From the first vaccination of the mRNA vaccines from Pfizer and Moderna, your body will begin to develop 'robust' antibodies 13 to 15 days after initial inoculation, and that will correspond with reducing your ability to transmit the virus. Should you get infected very shortly after you get vaccinated (i.e., 2 or 3 days), you will most likely be able to fully spread the virus. However, if you get infected 12 to 14 days after the first dose, your ability to spread the virus will be much less. Every day following that it will decrease more and more. Studies are still being conducted trying to exactly measure these factors, but it is now assumed that by 10 to 14 days after the second dose vaccinated individuals will not be a major contributing factor for virus spread. Of course, mask wearing and proper hand sanitation should be observed throughout this entire period.

2. As for the length of immunity, our lab has data from natural infections showing that almost 100% of individuals have strong immune responses eight months after their initial infection. We also know that the vaccines presently in use induce and even stronger immune response than natural infection, so it's likely that immunity from vaccines will last longer than one year, and perhaps even 2 to 3 years. But, to simplify things they will probably recommend a booster injection every year.

3. Finally, we have initial in vivo (testing on lab animals) evidence that the mutation N501Y in the spike protein RBD will have no effect on vaccine efficacy from a Science paper we published in September, 2020. The figures show high efficacy of a non-mutant subunit vaccine in mice challenged with the N501Y variant. That bodes incredibly well for our vaccination efforts.

What does all of his mean? Two things ... once my wife and I get our vaccinations we'll be coming to St. Maarten the following month. And, two, someday he's going to buy us second home in St. Maarten!