I want to link to a few things, and briefly summarize a couple of others

New developments on COVID vaccines

There’s been a variety of good news on the COVID vaccine front lately; both Pfizer/BioNTech’s vaccine AND Moderna’s look to be quite effective, with 95% efficacy showing up in their clinical trials at this point. Pfizer is filing for emergency use authorization with the FDA and presumably Moderna will be as well. Both appear so far to look quite good on the safety front.

Pfizer’s vaccine candidate has the disadvantage that it has to be stored, transported, and largely kept at extremely cold temperatures, whereas Moderna’s is compatible with a more typical supply chain.

If you want to read more on these, I highly recommend the posts from pharma industry insider Derek Lowe, who is a scientist in the trenches doing drug discovery work (though not in this specific area). He understands the science, and does a good job explaining it at a level that most people can understand. Here are some key posts:

On the whole, all the recent news on this front has been good – not unexpected good news, but it’s good news nevertheless.

Mohler on educational and cultural changes

Al Mohler highlighted a very concerning “human rights” movement which threatens Christian higher education; particularly, the Biden administration is being lobbied to deny accreditation to Christian colleges and schools on the grounds that they discriminate against the LGBTQ community. The article is worth reading in full.

Mohler’s daily “briefing” today was also worth reading; of particular interest is a lengthy discussion of a trend where testing for Downs syndrome during pregnancy results in abortion of an increasing percentage of Downs syndrome babies, to the point that in some countries – Denmark especially – there may be almost none left. Mohler digs into the issues here; they’re worth thinking about, and were acknowledged in a lengthy Atlantic article he discusses.

When and how to confront people in written form

Tim Challies had an article a while back on questions he now asks himself to ensure he deals with problems with other Christians, such as doctrinal disagreements, in the right way and with the right heart. This is, I think, something I’ve gotten wrong before (as I wrote recently) and his tips here are valuable. Here are a couple:

Would I say this if he and I were face-to-face? Would I say this in the same way, using the same words? Would I say this, and say it in this way, if he and I were standing in front of an audience of tens of thousands (as, indeed, through social media we do)?

His advice is oriented towards how and when to confront issues publicly, especially online. However, since most of us interact on social media or online in one form or another, this is likely good advice for anyone to consider.