Hilda Bastian

My darling son Adam would have been 43 today. Cherishing memories of hanging out with him—here in 2012. ❤️

It was a slow month for next generation Covid vaccine results reporting, but a big month for clinical trial news:

• A new clinical trial for intranasal and inhaled versions of a vax is on the starting blocks in the US;

• Another intranasal vax trial has expanded to another 2 cities in the US; and

• A trial for a "variant-proof" vax going into phase 2a trial in Germany.

Plus some preclinical reports & more in my latest monthly update @PLOS@mstdn.science

https://absolutelymaybe.plos.org/2026/04/30/another-intranasal-covid-vaccine-starting-in-the-us-nextgen-vax-monthly-update/

#Vaccines #Covid #Covid19

New feature on next generation Covid vax: Which vaccines are advancing the most?

I highlight 3 in mid- to late-stage trials, with manufacturing partners/plans—including a "universal" Covid vax & a mucosal one—and another 6 vaccines.

Plus more clinical trial results & 10 new preclinical reports.

Now @PLOS@mstdn.science
https://absolutelymaybe.plos.org/2026/04/02/accelerating-development-for-some-nextgen-covid-vaxes-update-no-39/

#Vaccines #Covid #Covid19

In February 2021, a town in Brazil showed up for a groundbreaking whole-of-town randomized Covid vaccine trial, providing evidence of population effects of mass vaccination in a pandemic.

My latest @PLOS@mstdn.science post digs into this exciting precedent, and why it matters so much:

https://absolutelymaybe.plos.org/2026/03/28/a-unique-pandemic-control-trial/

#Covid #Covid19 #Vaccines

News-packed update on nextgen Covid vaccines this month at my @PLOS@mstdn.science blog:

• Phase 2 results for a self-amplifying mRNA vaccine from Japan with a phase 3 trial recently closed off

• Preclinical results for an intranasal "universal" vaccine that provided some protection from coronaviruses, H1N1 flu, some bacterial infections, and an asthma allergen

• Opportunities to participate in intranasal vaccine trials in Finland and the US

And much more: https://absolutelymaybe.plos.org/2026/03/01/progress-for-universal-vaccine-more-nextgen-covid-vax-news-update-no-38/

#Vaccines #Covid #Covid19

The rose is hands down the prettiest flower in the rain today 😍

#BloomScrolling

Another vaccine approval and more in my latest next generation Covid vax update:

• Self-amplifying mRNA vax Kostaive approved in the UK

• New trial for a mucosal vax on the starting blocks in Finland

• Some results from AstraZeneca phase 1 trial for mRNA vax

• 11 preclinical reports, including 2 for mucosal pancoronavirus vaccines

https://absolutelymaybe.plos.org/2026/01/31/another-approval-and-more-nextgen-covid-vax-news-update-no-37/

#Vaccines #Covid #Covid19

This is Sechi Katō (1893-1989) in 1918. It's her graduation photo from a women's college in Tokyo.

Eventually she would become the first woman principal investigator at RIKEN, Japan's national chemistry & physics institute. She faced incredibly daunting hurdles before then...

1/7

#WomenInSTEM

“No single raindrop…”

"No single raindrop believes it is to blame for the flood." This is a line from a poster I used to have in my office. It popped into my head this week when I was in a queue to fuel my car. We've had shortages around here—not because the country didn't have enough, but because panic buyers have been draining supplies.

https://hildabastian.wordpress.com/2026/04/10/no-single-raindrop/

Adjusting to the Changing Internet

When ads flooded some parts of the internet, I adjusted by avoiding those places when I recognized the signs—or hitting the back button quickly when I hadn't. When "AI" scrapers led to an explosion of sites making me wait while checking if I'm a robot, I got used to it, though it's a drag. And so on it goes. Now it seems cyber surveillance could advance in ways that might require bigger behavioral adaptation.

https://hildabastian.wordpress.com/2026/03/09/adjusting-to-the-changing-internet/

This is so exciting! The German National Library of Medicine @ZBMED@mastodon.social just had its first open meeting on the plan for an open and independent PubMed safety net. Here's my write-up @PLOS@mstdn.science on the meeting & how institutions & others can help: https://absolutelymaybe.plos.org/2025/05/14/germanys-plan-for-an-open-and-independent-pubmed-safety-net/

#MedLibs

Hate that it has come to this, but it's time to consider PubMed vulnerable to enshittification. My latest post @PLOS@mstdn.science discusses the lines we need to fight to hold – and alternatives we can rely on internationally:

https://absolutelymaybe.plos.org/2025/02/14/what-if-we-cant-rely-on-pubmed/

#medlibs

Warning: this sociology paper by Mike Michael is a rabbit hole, leading to other rabbit holes - fascinating, occasionally hilarious & sometimes downright bizarre...

It's about what the author calls "lay metrology".

That's describing measurements in terms that are presumed to give lay people a sense of the proportion - like saying something's "twice the size of Wales"....

1/5

https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/09636625231186782

5 things we learned about journal peer review in 2022 – my annual roundup of research on peer review.

It was a bumper year for randomized trials in peer review – 5 of them! We can't usually count on even 1.

https://absolutelymaybe.plos.org/2023/01/26/5-things-we-learned-about-journal-peer-review-in-2022/

#PeerReview #MetaScience #OpenScience #Scicomm #AcademicChatter