Re: New SARS type virus spreading in China

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On the news last night we are seeing the start of another surge in COVID cases. This includes those that were early vaccinated and didn't get the booster shots.
Facts do not cease to exist because they are ignored.-Huxley
"We can have democracy in this country, or we can have great wealth concentrated in the hands of a few, but we can't have both." ~ Louis Brandeis,

Re: New SARS type virus spreading in China

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We talked earlier about Austria's lockdown, but it's bigger than just that country.
Europe has become the epicentre of the pandemic again, prompting some governments to consider re-imposing unpopular lockdowns in the run-up to Christmas and stirring debate over whether vaccines alone are enough to tame COVID-19.

Europe accounts for more than half of the average 7-day infections globally and about half of latest deaths, according to a Reuters tally, the highest levels since April last year when the virus was at its initial peak in Italy.

Governments and companies are worried the prolonged pandemic will derail a fragile economic recovery. Countries including the Netherlands, Germany, Austria and the Czech Republic are taking or planning measures to curb the spread.

Caretaker Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte announced a three-week partial lockdown from Saturday, Western Europe's first since the summer. "The virus is everywhere and needs to be combated everywhere," Rutte said in an address on Friday evening. read more

The fresh concerns over what British Prime Minister Boris Johnson described on Friday as "storm clouds" over Europe come as successful inoculation campaigns have plateaued ahead of the winter months and flu season. read more

About 65% of the population of the European Economic Area (EEA) - which includes the European Union, Iceland, Liechtenstein and Norway - have received two doses, according to EU data, but the pace has slowed in recent months. Take-up in southern European countries is around 80%, but hesitancy has hampered rollout in central and eastern Europe and Russia, leading to outbreaks that could overwhelm healthcare.

Germany, France and the Netherlands are also experiencing a surge in infections, showing the challenge even for governments with high acceptance rates.

To be sure, hospitalisations and deaths are much lower than a year ago and big variations by country in use of vaccines and boosters as well as measures like social distancing make it hard to draw conclusions for the whole region.
The measures coming into force in the Netherlands include restaurants and shops ordered to close early and spectators barred from sporting events.

Germany will reintroduce free COVID-19 tests from Saturday, acting health minister Jens Spahn said on Friday. A draft law in Germany would allow for measures such as compulsory face masks and social distancing in public spaces to continue to be enforced until next March.

Austria's government is likely to decide on Sunday to impose a lockdown on people who are not vaccinated, Chancellor Alexander Schallenberg said on Friday.

Most EU countries are deploying extra shots to the elderly and those with weakened immune systems, but expanding vaccination to more of the population should be a priority to avoid steps like lockdown, scientists said.

"The real urgency is to widen the pool of vaccinated people as much as possible," said Carlo Federico Perno, head of microbiology and immunology diagnostics at Rome's Bambino Gesù Hospital.

The EU's medicines regulator is also evaluating the use of Pfizer and BioNTech's vaccine in 5 to 11-year-olds.

Norway will offer a third COVID-19 vaccine dose to everyone aged 18 and older and will give municipalities the option of using digital "corona passes", the government said on Friday. Norway has so far given a third dose only to those aged 65 and older.

From Dec. 1, Italy will also offer the third dose to people over 40. "This (outbreak) will probably make the EU look at booster doses and say 'we do need them pronto'," said Michael Head, senior research fellow in global health at the University of Southampton.

Still struggling to ramp up shots, central and eastern European governments have had to take drastic action. Latvia, one of the least vaccinated countries in the EU, imposed a four-week lockdown in mid-October. Its parliament voted on Friday to ban lawmakers who refuse vaccination from voting on legislature and participating in discussions. The Czech Republic, Slovakia and Russia have also tightened restrictions.

Vaccines alone are not the silver bullet to defeat the pandemic in the long term, virologists say.

Several pointed to Israel as an example of good practice: in addition to inoculations, it has reinforced mask wearing and introduced vaccine passports after cases spiked a few months ago.

Measures such as spacing, masks and vaccine mandates for indoor venues are essential, said Antonella Viola, professor of immunology at Italy's University of Padua.
https://www.reuters.com/world/europe/co ... 021-11-12/
"Everyone is entitled to their own opinion, but not their own facts." - Daniel Patrick Moynihan

Re: New SARS type virus spreading in China

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Unvaccinated Texans make up vast majority of COVID-19 cases and deaths this year, new state data shows

New data from the Texas health department released Monday proves what health officials have been trying to tell vaccine-hesitant Texans for months: The COVID-19 vaccine dramatically prevents death and is the best tool to prevent transmission of the deadly virus.

Out of nearly 29,000 Texans who have died from COVID-related illnesses since mid-January, only 8% of them were fully vaccinated against the virus, according to a report detailing the Texas Department of State Health Services' findings.

And more than half of those deaths among vaccinated people were among Texans older than 75, the age group that is most vulnerable to the virus, the study shows.

COVID-19 was deadlier for unvaccinated Texans across age groups

Reported deaths from mid-January to October show that most COVID-19 deaths occurred among unvaccinated younger and older Texans.

COVID-19 deaths among Texans
Age group Unvaccinated Vaccinated
18-29 years 339 < 10
30-39 1,019 25
40-49 2,332 62
50-64 6,789 357
65-74 6,215 509
75+ 7,810 1,243
Note: Most people became eligible for COVID-19 vaccines in late March.Source: Texas Department of State Health ServicesCredit: Mandi Cai

"We've known for a while that vaccines were going to have a protective effect on a large segment of our population," said Dr. Jennifer A. Shuford, state epidemiologist. "By looking at our own population and seeing what the impact of the vaccines have been on that population, we're hoping just to be able to reach people here in Texas and show them the difference that being fully vaccinated can make in their lives and for their communities."

The state health department study covers most of the positive cases and COVID-19 deaths reported in Texas among residents from Jan. 15 to Oct. 1. It's the first time state officials have been able to statistically measure the true impact of the vaccine on the pandemic in Texas — which has one of the highest death tolls in the nation. The majority of Texans ages 16 and up didn't become eligible for the vaccine until late March.

State health officials also found the vaccine greatly reduced the risk of virus transmission, including the highly contagious delta variant that ravaged the state over the summer.

Only 3% of 1.5 million positive COVID-19 tests examined since mid-January occurred in people who were already vaccinated.

State researchers matched electronic lab reports and death certificates with state immunization records, and measured cases and deaths since mid-January, a month after the first shots were administered in Texas.

The study was done using data similar to those used by other states that conducted similar studies and methods recommended by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Shuford said.

And while the outcome was not particularly surprising, Shuford said, officials hope that the new data will increase trust in the benefits of the shot.

"Texas is a unique place; it's got a lot of diversity, geographic and population-wise," Shuford said. "We know that some people want to see actual numbers and that they want to see it for their own community. And so we are hoping that this reaches some of those people who have been hesitant and really just questioning the benefits of the vaccines."

In Texas, it literally requires a disaster — like a pandemic — before the state records precise information about vaccinations. As a result, there is a record for every single COVID-19 vaccine dose of the name and age of the person who received it plus the date it was administered. Normally, vaccination records are shown to schools by parents, but details of all vaccinations are not regularly kept by a state registry in Texas, unlike nearly every other state, because it's a voluntary system.

However, state officials still don't have official numbers on how many vaccinated people were hospitalized with COVID-19 because hospitals are not required to report that level of data under state law.

But the state's largest hospital districts and counties have reported that at least 90% of the hospitalized Texans with the virus were unvaccinated.

The state's new health data comes as Republican state leaders grapple with local cities and school districts about masking, which has been proven to reduce transmission of the virus, and with federal officials over vaccine mandates.

About 53% of the Texas population is fully vaccinated. More than 70,000 Texans have died from COVID-19 since the pandemic began.

Immunity heading into the holidays

The new report is particularly well-timed, officials say, because gatherings throughout the holiday season could touch off another surge as families get together — many of them for the first time since last year — and around 9 million Texans remain unvaccinated.

Texas saw its deadliest surge of the pandemic in January, when more than 400 deaths were reported daily at its peak, a trend health officials said was likely a direct result of the holidays.

The recent Texas Coronavirus Antibody Response Survey, commissioned by the state health department in partnership with the University of Texas System, estimated that about 75% of Texans — roughly 22 million people — likely have some level of protection against the virus, either by natural immunity from being infected or through vaccination.

But that doesn't mean infected people are immune indefinitely or that they shouldn't get the vaccine, health experts say.

In fact, doctors, scientists and health officials urge those who have been infected to get vaccinated anyway, saying the vaccine provides a strong boost in immunity even to those who have some level of natural protection.

The Texas CARES study found that fully vaccinated participants showed significantly higher antibody levels than those who were unvaccinated but had been infected.

A week ago, the CDC found that while both vaccination and natural infection provide about six months of protection from infection by the virus, the vaccine provides a "higher, more robust, and more consistent level of immunity" than natural infection does.

And while the fact that a solid majority of Texans are estimated to have some protection from the virus bodes well for the state in its fight against the pandemic, Shuford said, it still means that millions of Texans are vulnerable to severe illness or death from the highly contagious virus, without any vaccine or natural immunity.

"Those susceptible populations can still get infected, and the holidays are the perfect time for that," she said. "Thanksgiving, Christmas, New Year's. These are all times that people gather together, and COVID-19 can easily be transmitted at these gatherings."
https://www.rawstory.com/unvaccinated-t ... ata-shows/

But the Repugs in the state just see not getting vaccinated as part of "Muh Freedom", not realizing they are killing off their base of voters. Those that flat refuse to get vaccinated are more likely to vote Repug no matter what they support. You could have Jesus Christ running as a Dem and Lucifer running as a Repug, these are the ones that would vote for Lucifer.
Facts do not cease to exist because they are ignored.-Huxley
"We can have democracy in this country, or we can have great wealth concentrated in the hands of a few, but we can't have both." ~ Louis Brandeis,

Re: New SARS type virus spreading in China

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Federal Court Refuses To Lift Stay On Biden Vaccine Mandate

WASHINGTON (AP) — A federal court declined Friday to lift its stay on the Biden administration’s vaccine mandate for businesses with 100 or more workers.

The New Orleans-based 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals granted an emergency stay last Saturday of the requirement by the federal Occupational Safety and Health Administration that those workers be vaccinated by Jan. 4 or face mask requirements and weekly tests.

Lawyers for the Justice and Labor departments filed a response Monday in which they said stopping the mandate from taking effect will only prolong the COVID-19 pandemic and would “cost dozens or even hundreds of lives per day.”

But the appeals court rejected that argument Friday. Judge Kurt D. Engelhardt wrote that the stay “is firmly in the public interest.”

“From economic uncertainty to workplace strife, the mere specter of the Mandate has contributed to untold economic upheaval in recent months,” Engelhardt wrote.

At least 27 states have filed legal challenges in at least six federal appeals courts after OSHA released its rules on Nov. 4. The federal government said in its court filings Monday that the cases should be consolidated and that one of the circuit courts where a legal challenge has been filed should be chosen at random on Nov. 16 to hear it.

Administration lawyers said there is no reason to keep the vaccine mandate on hold while the court where the cases ultimately land remains undetermined.
https://www.huffpost.com/entry/stay-sta ... aee925529e

“is firmly in the public interest.” to let the COVID virus continue to spread and kill people, because some idiots are so selfish and ignorant they only think what they want matters and to hell with everybody's else and their health.
Facts do not cease to exist because they are ignored.-Huxley
"We can have democracy in this country, or we can have great wealth concentrated in the hands of a few, but we can't have both." ~ Louis Brandeis,

Re: New SARS type virus spreading in China

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As COVID-19 Surges In Eastern Europe, Leaders Slow To Act

BELGRADE, Serbia (AP) — At the main hospital in Romania’s capital, the morgue ran out of space for the dead in recent days, and doctors in Bulgaria have suspended routine surgeries so they can tend to a surge in COVID-19 patients. In the Serbian capital, the graveyard now operates an extra day during the week in order to bury all the bodies arriving.

For two months now, a stubborn wave of virus infections has ripped mercilessly through several countries in Central and Eastern Europe, where vaccination rates are much lower than elsewhere on the continent. While medical workers pleaded for tough restrictions or even lockdowns, leaders let the virus rage unimpeded for weeks.
“I don’t believe in measures. I don’t believe in the same measures that existed before the vaccines,” Serbian Prime Minister Ana Brnabic said last month as the Balkan nation sustained some of its worst daily death tolls of the pandemic. “Why do we have vaccines then?”

A World Health Organization official declared earlier this month that Europe is again at the epicenter of the coronavirus pandemic. While several Western European countries are seeing spikes in infections, it is nations to the East that are driving fatalities. Romania, Bulgaria and the Balkan states recorded some of the highest per-capita death rates in the world in the first week of November, according to the WHO.

Experts say fumbled vaccination campaigns and underfunded and mismanaged health systems set the stage for the latest outbreaks, which gathered pace as leaders dithered. Some are acting now — but many doctors say it took too long and is still not enough.

Many governments in the region are facing elections soon, and that no doubt made them reluctant to force people to get vaccinated or impose unpopular lockdowns even in former Communist nations that once carried out mandatory inoculations without hesitation or where leaders were quick to introduce closures earlier in the pandemic.

But politicians’ failure to quickly heed the calls of the medical community has likely undermined an already weak trust in institutions in countries where corruption is widespread. Misinformation about vaccines has also found fertile ground amid the broader distrust of authority.

That has left countries stumbling through the latest surge with few protections. While nations around the world have struggled with resistance to vaccines, many in Central and Eastern Europe have particularly low rates for places where supply is not an issue. Bulgaria and Romania, both in the European Union, have fully vaccinated about 23% and 35% of their populations, respectively. Bosnia and Herzegovina has just 21% fully vaccinated.

Referring to Romania’s slow response, physician and health statistician Octavian Jurma described his country as a “textbook example” of the “tragic consequences produced by a political takeover of the pandemic response.”

Leaders finally introduced a curfew this month, requiring people who don’t have a COVID pass — which shows proof of vaccination, recovery from the illness or a negative test — to stay at home from 10 p.m. to 5 a.m. Infections have since dropped slightly, but hospitals remain overwhelmed.

At the main one in Bucharest, the bodies of those who died from COVID-19 lined a hallway in recent days because there was no room in the morgue. Part of a waiting room was transformed into an emergency ward, with the raising of a plastic sheet.

In Serbia, some hospitals are so swamped that they are only handling virus patients — leaving doctors to sue Brnabic, whose government faces elections in April.
“Since Brnabic said she doesn’t believe in measures, some 900 people have died,” Slavica Plavsic, a lung disease specialist, told N1 television on Oct. 21.
The prime minster has rejected that criticism, saying Thursday that she is proud of her government’s response.

Meanwhile, authorities at the graveyard in Belgrade say that now they have an average of 65 burials a day, compared with between 35 and 40 before the pandemic. Gravediggers now bury people on Sundays — which typically they didn’t — to handle the load.

In neighboring Hungary, few mitigating measures are in place. Like Serbia’s, Hungary’s government says it would prefer to rely on vaccinations. With nearly 60% of people fully vaccinated, the country is better placed than most in the region — but that still leaves a large swath of the population unprotected.

Hungary’s government earlier this month ordered mask-wearing on public transportation and allowed private employers to mandate vaccines for their staff.
But Gyula Kincses, chairman of the Hungarian Chamber of Doctors, said that that was “too little, too late” and recommended that masks be made mandatory in all indoor spaces.

In a recent radio interview, Prime Minister Viktor Orban, whose populist party faces election next spring, said that mandatory vaccinations would “be beyond the limits of what Hungarians will accept,” even while acknowledging the new restrictions could only slow, not stop, the virus’s spread.

Hospitals in Bulgaria, with its low vaccination rate, were forced to temporarily suspended all non-emergency surgeries so more doctors could treat the influx of COVID-19 patients.

“Politicians now think only about the elections, but there inevitably will be a lockdown, however in tragic circumstances,” Ivan Martinov, a leading cardiologist at Sofia’s main emergency hospital, told national radio. Parliamentary elections are being held Sunday.

Soaring infections appear to have been a wake-up call to some extent in Croatia, which saw unusually large lines of people waiting for vaccines in recent days.
Authorities said on Wednesday that more than 15,000 people received their first dose a day earlier — a significant jump after vaccinations all but halted in the Adriatic country of 4.2 million.

Croatia and neighboring Slovenia have also introduced COVID passes in recent weeks.

But medical organizations in Slovenia have warned that the Alpine country’s health system is still on the verge of collapse. They urgently appealed to people to do their best to avoid seeking urgent care in the coming months.

“There are traffic accidents, accidents at work, other infections,” gasped Bojana Baovic, head of Slovenia’s Medical Chamber. “This is an alarming situation that we can cope with through maximum solidarity.”
https://www.huffpost.com/entry/as-covid ... 5bdfd13e01

Like the Black Death and that Bunny. it keeps going and going and going.
Facts do not cease to exist because they are ignored.-Huxley
"We can have democracy in this country, or we can have great wealth concentrated in the hands of a few, but we can't have both." ~ Louis Brandeis,

Re: New SARS type virus spreading in China

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Yes Eastern Europe is bad, they have the lowest vaccination rates in the EU. The EU was feeling smug that their vaccination rates were higher than the US and now they're not looking good.
Police in the Netherlands have used water cannon on protesters opposed to a new partial lockdown imposed amid record coronavirus infections and rising intensive care cases. Three weeks of restrictions for shops, sport and catering were announced by Prime Minister Mark Rutte on Friday. Much of Europe is facing a surge in cases, blamed partly on low vaccine take-up in several countries.
Image

Dutch protesters blasted with water cannons by riot cops as lockdown returns
"Everyone is entitled to their own opinion, but not their own facts." - Daniel Patrick Moynihan

Re: New SARS type virus spreading in China

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Pfizer has applied to the Food and Drug Administration to authorize its antiviral pill to treat unvaccinated people with Covid-19 who are at high risk of becoming severely ill, the company said on Tuesday.

The drug, which will be sold under the brand name Paxlovid, could become available within weeks if authorization is granted. It is meant to be dispensed by pharmacies and taken at home.

Paxlovid is the second antiviral pill to show effectiveness against Covid, in a new class of treatments for the disease that are expected to reach far more patients than other drugs that are typically given by infusion.

In a key clinical trial, Paxlovid was found to sharply reduce the risk of hospitalization or death when given to high-risk unvaccinated volunteers soon after they started showing symptoms. It appears to be more effective than a similar offering from Merck, known as molnupiravir, that could be authorized as soon as early December.

Both pills are geared toward older people or people who have obesity or medical conditions that put them at elevated risk for getting severely ill from Covid.

A spokesman for Pfizer, Kit Longley, said that for now, the company is seeking authorization for its pill to be given only to unvaccinated people, but the company might submit amendments to that provision later, depending on the data from clinical trials.

Merck, which applied for authorization for molnupiravir last month, said it would be up to the F.D.A. to decide whether to authorize its pill for use in vaccinated people in addition to unvaccinated people.

The F.D.A. has not yet said whether it would convene a meeting of expert advisers to recommend whether to authorize Pfizer’s treatment. A panel of experts that advises the agency on antimicrobial drugs is scheduled to meet at the end of this month to discuss Merck’s drug.

Supplies of Pfizer’s treatment, which is taken as a regimen of 30 pills over five days, will be very limited at first. Pfizer said it could produce enough of the pills by the end of the year to treat 180,000 people. The company expects to expand manufacturing to produce at least 50 million treatment courses next year, including 21 million or more by the end of June.

Australia and Britain have already locked up some of those supplies. No supply deal has yet been announced for the United States.

Pfizer said on Tuesday that it had reached an agreement to allow other manufacturers to make and sell the pill inexpensively for use in 95 developing countries.

Pfizer’s drug is designed to stop the coronavirus from replicating by blocking the activity of a key enzyme that the coronavirus uses to replicate itself inside cells. Merck’s pill works differently, by inserting errors into the virus’s genetic code, a mechanism that has raised concerns among some scientists that Merck’s drug could trigger genetic mutations that cause reproductive harm. That difference could give Pfizer’s pill an advantage among doctors and patients, because it does not carry the same safety concerns as the Merck pill.
https://www.nytimes.com/2021/11/16/busi ... nated.html

The Biden administration is planning to pay more than five billion dollars for a stockpile of Pfizer’s new Covid-19 pill, enough for about 10 million courses of treatment, after the company gears up production next year, according to people familiar with the agreement.

Senior federal health officials describe the pill as a powerful new weapon against Covid. When given promptly to trial groups of high-risk unvaccinated people who developed symptoms of the disease, the drug sharply reduced the risk of hospitalization and death.

The action comes at a time of renewed hope among some senior Biden administration officials that the nation may have weathered the worst of the pandemic, even as the onset of winter threatens to spur the spread of infection.

More than 70 percent of the nation’s adults are now fully vaccinated. After exacting a horrific toll since midsummer, the virus has left a trail of death and disease but also more natural immunity in its wake, some public health experts say.

“I do think that these new oral antivirals will change the way that Covid is managed,” said Dr. David Dowdy, an associate professor of epidemiology at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health. “These will help reduce burden on hospitals and the death toll.”

“But even without these pills, those numbers are going down,” he added.

Pfizer on Tuesday asked the Food and Drug Administration to authorize its pill for high-risk, unvaccinated people. A similar drug developed by Merck and Ridgeback Biotherapeutics could be authorized as soon as early December.

A spokesman for Pfizer, Kit Longley, said that while the company is seeking authorization for its pill to be given only to unvaccinated people for now, it might ask for a modification later, depending on the data from clinical trials.

Both treatments are geared toward people who are older than 65 or who suffer from medical conditions that put them at higher risk of severe Covid. Among clinical trial volunteers, the Pfizer drug cut the risk of hospitalization or death by 89 percent when given within three days after the start of symptoms.

The Merck pill was about 50 percent effective when given within five days of the onset of symptoms, though the different designs and timing of the trials make comparisons imprecise.

Pfizer has said it expects to be able to produce enough pills for more than 180,000 people by the end of this year and for more than 21 million in the first half of next year. Merck, too, has said it plans to ramp up production over the next year.

The U.S. government had initially planned to order 1.7 million courses of Pfizer’s treatment, with an additional option for 3.3 million, for about $700 per course.

But the new supply of ten million courses is expected to cost significantly less per treatment. The treatment involves 30 pills taken over the course of five days.

The contract is still being finalized, but an announcement is expected this week, according to one official familiar with the deal.

The government has also ordered 3.1 million treatment courses, with options for 2 million more, of Merck’s pill, at about $700 per person.
https://www.nytimes.com/live/2021/11/16 ... s-mandates
"Everyone is entitled to their own opinion, but not their own facts." - Daniel Patrick Moynihan

Re: New SARS type virus spreading in China

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Last Thursday, Colorado became the first state in the U.S. to approve COVID-19 boosters for all residents over 18 who were initially vaccinated at least six months ago — breaking with federal officials, who have authorized the shots only for seniors and others at high risk of serious illness because of living arrangements, working conditions or medical issues.

Then California did the same thing. And New Mexico. And New York City. And Arkansas.

“If you’re interested in getting a booster, go ahead and get one,” said Dr. Mark Ghaly, California’s secretary of health and human services.

It’s unprecedented for individual states and cities to override the Food and Drug Administration and Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, both of which have resisted the Biden administration’s boosters-for-all push amid concerns about global equity and debate over whether younger people really need them. FDA and CDC advisers have also expressed worries about undermining confidence in the vaccines — which still provide significant protection — at a time when millions of Americans have yet to receive their first jab.

But rather than keep waiting for federal officials, some experts now say that other states and cities should just open up eligibility on their own — and the sooner the better.

“Infections are starting to rise,” Dr. Ashish K. Jha, dean of the Brown University School of Public Health, tweeted. “Hospitalizations are inching up. The holidays are approaching. The data is becoming increasingly clear. It is time for every adult 6 months out to get a booster.”

There are three reasons why states like Colorado have the right idea.

1. Two vaccine shots aren’t as effective as they used to be.

Jha was right when he wrote that “the data is becoming increasingly clear.” Seemingly every day, more studies show that the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines’ original 90-plus percent effectiveness against COVID infection and hospitalization has worn off over time and in the face of the hypercontagious Delta variant — but that it can be restored, almost instantly, with a third shot.

The latest proof comes from the U.K. On Monday, government researchers there released their first real-world study on the subject. They found that in the absence of a booster, the Pfizer vaccine had become just 62.5 percent effective against symptomatic infection in those 50 or older; for the AstraZeneca vaccine the corresponding number had fallen even further, to 44 percent. Yet boosters increased protection to 94 percent for Pfizer and 93 percent for AstraZeneca after two weeks. As a result, the U.K. immediately broadened booster eligibility to everyone 40 and older.

Other research shows the same effect. Late last month, Pfizer announced the results of its randomized, placebo-controlled booster trial — the gold standard for assessing vaccine efficacy. Previously, there had only been “vaccine effectiveness reports without randomization, without a placebo control group and [with] multiple potential confounding factors,” according to Dr. Eric Topol, head of the Scripps Research Translational Institute.

Among the 5,000 or so original Pfizer recipients who received a booster, just five developed symptomatic COVID over the next two months. Of the 5,000 vaccinated people who received a placebo booster instead, however, 109 got COVID — 22 times as many. The researchers concluded that the booster had restored the vaccine’s efficacy rate to 95.6 percent, which was consistent regardless of age, sex, race, ethnicity or chronic medical conditions. Last week, Pfizer asked the FDA to authorize its boosters for all U.S. adults.

FDA advisers have acknowledged that effectiveness against infection has waned and that boosters revive it. But they have questioned whether full protection against infection should be the goal, especially among younger, healthier Americans, or whether immunization efforts should focus instead on shielding the most vulnerable from severe outcomes.

The problem is that recent data from the Israeli Ministry of Health, which approved boosters for all vaccine recipients 12 or older this summer, found that severe disease was about 20 times more common in adults over 40 who were vaccinated but had not received a booster than in adults of the same age who did get a booster. As the researchers put it: “Across all age groups, rates of confirmed infection and severe illness” — emphasis added — “were substantially lower among those who received a booster dose of the Pfizer vaccine” than those who did not.

Likewise, a subsequent observational study of more than 1.4 million Israelis published in the Lancet found that — compared with two doses of Pfizer administered at least five months before — “adding a third dose was estimated to be 93% effective in preventing COVID-19-related admission to hospital, 92% in preventing severe disease, and 81% in preventing COVID-19-related death, as of 7 or more days after the third dose.”

“Back in April I was totally against booster shots due to lack of evidence of attrition of effectiveness and obvious interest of the companies to promote them,” Scripps's Topol explained in response. “Now the data are abundant and [in my opinion] definitive for their benefit.”

None of which is to say the vaccines no longer work. A CDC study from September found that unvaccinated Americans remain 11 times more likely than their vaccinated peers to die of COVID; a more recent Texas study found that unvaccinated Texans are 20 times more likely to die of the disease. Even as nearly 70 percent of the U.S. population has received at least one vaccine dose, the unvaccinated continue to account for approximately three-quarters of confirmed COVID cases in states that index positive tests to vaccination status. Despite the threat of their waning effectiveness, the vaccines are preventing millions of infections and tens (perhaps even hundreds) of thousands of hospitalizations and deaths.

Yet as the weather cools and holiday celebrations lure Americans indoors, COVID rates are starting to climb in several states with relatively high vaccination rates that were spared the worst of Delta’s summer surge — signaling a potential seasonal spike partially driven by fading immunity.

2. Winter is coming.

Last winter was the worst phase of the U.S. pandemic — a time when more than 3,000 Americans were dying of COVID each day and more than 250,000 were testing positive.

Thanks to the vaccines, this winter is almost certain to be less tragic. But waning effectiveness against both infection and severe illness could make it a lot worse than it has to be.

Currently, fewer than one in three U.S. seniors — by far the most vulnerable age group, and the one that federal officials are most eager to reach — have received booster shots. That number plummets even further, to fewer than one in seven, among all Americans who got their second dose at least six months ago.

Other countries are doing much better. Roughly 80 percent of eligible Israelis have already received boosters. The same goes for approximately 70 percent of eligible Belgians; more than 60 percent of Britons; about half of French residents; more than 40 percent of Germans; and about 35 percent of Italians.

Another looming wave of infection throws the benefits of boosters in sharp relief. Not only can they restore full protection against hospitalization and deaths among the otherwise vulnerable, limiting the ultimate toll of such a surge, they can also reduce the size of the surge itself — and further shield the vulnerable — by reducing the number of people who get infected and spread the virus to others.

The latest Israeli data, for instance, shows that during that country’s Delta wave earlier this year, cases began to decline in each respective age group shortly after boosters were made available to them — even as cases continued to rise in younger age groups that weren’t eligible yet. Today, cases have fallen in Israel from a summer peak of more than 11,000 a day to just a few dozen, and unvaccinated people again account for nearly all hospitalizations after rates had started to tick up among vaccinated Israelis whose immunity had waned.

“I just don't get [the] ‘vaccine wasn't designed to prevent infections’ line,” Dr. Bob Wachter, chair of the Department of Medicine at the University of California, San Francisco, tweeted Sunday. “If vax used to prevent 95% of infections, then wanes, but protection can be restored via safe/cheap boost — which not only prevents cases [and] Long Covid [but] also keeps [the] community safer — why NOT do that?”

Indeed, the collective upside of encouraging boosters for all — curbing community spread during the holidays — has been as much a part of the rationale in Colorado and elsewhere as the renewed individual protection they provide.

“Case counts are significant, spread rates are far too high, and the Delta variant is far more transmissible than previous variants. In addition, our hospitals are well beyond capacity, and several have declared Crisis Standards of Care,” David Scrase, New Mexico’s acting health secretary, said in a statement. “Providing boosters for adults will significantly increase levels of immunity protection across our state — and that’s essential for all of us. COVID-19 is incredibly opportunistic — and it’s our job to ensure that the virus has fewer and fewer opportunities to spread.”

3. The vast majority of U.S. adults are already eligible anyway.

They just don’t realize it because of mixed messaging from Washington, D.C. “I’ve been very frustrated with the convoluted messaging out of the CDCV and the FDA,” Colorado Gov. Jared Polis said Sunday on CBS’s “Face the Nation.”

A few minutes later, Dr. Scott Gottlieb, a former head of the FDA who now sits on Pfizer’s board, echoed Polis’s criticism. “I think the confusing message around the boosters may end up being one of the biggest missed opportunities in this pandemic,” Gottlieb said. “Anyone who’s eligible for a booster — and most Americans probably are eligible at this point — should be going out and seeking it.”

In October, advisory panels for the FDA and CDC debated — and disagreed — about booster criteria before CDC Director Rochelle Walensky settled on a somewhat byzantine formula: Anyone who initially received Johnson & Johnson’s one-dose vaccine would be eligible for a second dose of the vaccine of their choice, as would anyone 65 or older who initially received either Pfizer or Moderna. But Pfizer or Moderna recipients ages 18 to 64 would have to “self-attest” to being at high risk because of where they live (such as a long-term care facility) or work (like a school) or because of a preexisting medical condition (such as asthma).

In effect, this made at least 89 percent of U.S. adults eligible for boosters six months after their previous dose, according to an analysis by the Computational Epidemiology Lab at Boston Children's Hospital, which is affiliated with Harvard Medical School.

That’s largely because 75 percent of U.S. adults have a body-mass index of 25 or more, which the CDC considers “obese” — and obesity is qualifying medical condition. Other qualifying conditions include depression, a current or former smoking habit, high blood pressure and a recent pregnancy. Combine all those risk factors with qualifying jobs — first responders, educators, food and agriculture workers, manufacturing workers, corrections workers, public transit employees and others — and you get to about nine in 10 U.S. adults.

Then, consider that pharmacies and other providers aren’t even checking qualifications, and the fact is that every single U.S. adult can already get a booster if he or she wants one.

The problem is that almost no U.S. adults know that, and they don’t know it because the CDC has not made it clear.

Now leaders in Colorado, California, New Mexico, New York City and Arkansas are breaking with federal officials and trying to make the booster situation as clear as they possibly can, arguing there’s no point to a rule that stops far more eligible than ineligible Americans from getting vaccinated.

“What we’re finding is that we want more people to get their booster shot, and that this is somewhat confusing and limiting as to the eligibility,” Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson said Monday. “We’re changing that.”

The hope among many experts is that even if Washington, D.C., doesn’t follow suit in time for the holidays, other states and cities will.
https://news.yahoo.com/4-states-have-de ... 15775.html

A person is considered fully vaccinated when they receive two doses of the Moderna or Pfizer vaccine, or one dose of Johnson & Johnson.

Alabama: 46%
Alaska: 54%
Arizona: 54%
Arkansas: 49%
California: 62%
Colorado: 63%
Connecticut: 71%
Delaware: 61%
Florida: 61%
Georgia: 49%
Hawaii: 60%
Idaho: 45%
Illinois: 62%
Indiana: 50%
Iowa: 56%
Kansas: 54%
Kentucky: 52%
Louisiana: 48%
Maine: 72%
Maryland: 67%
Massachusetts: 70%
Michigan: 54%
Minnesota: 62%
Mississippi: 46%
Missouri: 50%
Montana: 51%
Nebraska: 57%
Nevada: 54%
New Hampshire: 64%
New Jersey: 67%
New Mexico: 63%
New York: 68%
North Carolina: 54%
North Dakota: 48%
Ohio: 53%
Oklahoma: 51%
Oregon: 64%
Pennsylvania: 62%
Rhode Island: 72%
South Carolina: 51%
South Dakota: 54%
Tennessee: 49%
Texas: 54%
Utah: 55%
Vermont: 72%
Virginia: 64%
Washington: 64%
West Virginia: 41%
Wisconsin: 59%
Wyoming: 45%
https://ktla.com/news/heres-how-close-c ... -covid-19/
"Everyone is entitled to their own opinion, but not their own facts." - Daniel Patrick Moynihan

Re: New SARS type virus spreading in China

3511
New evidence revealed that SARS-CoV-2 is spreading significantly in white-tailed deer in the U.S., sparking potential concern about long-term implications to the coronavirus pandemic in humans.

In a study published last week, veterinarians at Pennsylvania State University found active SARS-CoV-2 infections in at least 30% of white-tailed deer tested positive across Iowa during 2020. These new findings, which were verified by federal scientists at the National Veterinary Services Laboratories, come on the heels of a USDA study in August that showed 40% of the deer population in the Northeast and Midwest to have antibodies against SARS-CoV-2.

Dr. Diego Diel, an associate professor of virology at Cornell University, explained that SARS-CoV-2 is the "virus that actually causes" the disease COVID-19.

That widespread carriage of SARS-CoV-2 by deer draws concern due to the possibility of the animals carrying the virus indefinitely – to where they could spread it back to humans in periodic form.

Suresh Kuchipudi, a veterinary virologist at Penn State who co-led the study, told NPR: "If the virus has opportunities to find an alternate host besides humans, which we would call a reservoir, that will create a safe haven where the virus can continue to circulate even if the entire human population becomes immune. And so it becomes more and more complicated to manage or even eradicate the virus.

"If we want to continue to be proactive about emerging variants – and not be surprised by one that suddenly pops up – there's an urgent need to continue to monitor SARS-CoV-2 in wildlife, especially in animals that could serve as a reservoir, like the deer."

Vivek Kapur, a microbiologist at Penn State and co-leader of the study, said it was "surprising" how many positive cases were found in the lymph nodes of nearly 300 deer, 100 of which were wild, in the study.

"So these deer were either roadkill or free-living deer that hunters had killed (to eat)," he said.

Diel explained that, when an animal population becomes a reservoir, it "complicates control strategies" for the virus, making it "much more difficult to control than when you have a single species involved."

But he noted that it is "still not known" whether white-tailed deer are "in fact a reservoir of these viruses." He also said research is not clear on whether these deer can "actually transmit the virus and sustain that transmission in the field," or whether deer can transmit the virus to humans.

"Those are all very important questions that are still unanswered," he said.

Iowa Department of Natural Resources spokesperson Tammie Krausman told The Des Moines Register her agency is not recommending specific precautions despite the study's findings.

"DNR recommends that hunters keep hunting, and with standard precautions typically used when processing venison, like wearing gloves and thoroughly cooking the meat, the risk of exposure can be minimized," she said. "To date, there have been no cases of contracting COVID-19 from eating food, including hunted wild meat."

Since SARS-CoV-2 first emerged, there has been growing evidence of white-tailed deer being extremely susceptible to the virus. Last September, there was evidence suggesting SARS-CoV-2 could easily bind to enter a deer's cells. And the USDA study in August revealed that deer in four states had been exposed to the virus.

"At the moment, there’s no immediate cause for concern but justification for precaution. Just as we socially distance from people who could be infected, we also have to think about socially distancing from some animals who could potentially be infected," Peter Rabinowitz, a physician who specializes in zoonotic diseases and co-directs the University of Washington Alliance for Pandemic Preparedness, told USA TODAY back in August.

The study, which included researchers from Penn State, the Iowa Department of Natural Resources and Iowa State University, featured deer specific to Iowa but stated, "there is no reason to believe that the same thing isn't happening in other states where deer are present."

There are an estimated 30 million deer in the U.S. alone, with a majority of the animals native to North America, Central America and the northern edge of South America.
https://money.yahoo.com/type-coronaviru ... 47588.html
"Everyone is entitled to their own opinion, but not their own facts." - Daniel Patrick Moynihan

Re: New SARS type virus spreading in China

3513
Austria is going back into a national lockdown and plans to become the first country in Europe to make Covid-19 vaccinations mandatory for all eligible people as the nation's coronavirus crisis deepens, Chancellor Alexander Schallenberg announced Friday.

Schallenberg said his government would look to impose the national vaccine requirement from February 1. Just under 66% of Austria's total population is fully vaccinated against Covid-19, one of the lower rates in the European Union, where cases are surging.

The national lockdown -- the first in Europe this fall -- starts Monday and will last for 10 days minimum, and could be extended for a further 10 days, Schallenberg told reporters at a news conference in Vienna.

"We don't want a fifth wave. We don't want a sixth and seventh wave. We don't want to have this discussion next summer," Schallenberg said.
https://www.cnn.com/2021/11/19/europe/a ... index.html

Schallenberg is leader of the conservative People's Party.
"Everyone is entitled to their own opinion, but not their own facts." - Daniel Patrick Moynihan

Re: New SARS type virus spreading in China

3515
DeSantis signs limits on vaccine mandates one day after Legislature approved them

Gov. Ron DeSantis affixed his signature Thursday to four bills designed to countermand President Joe Biden’s COVID vaccine mandates, one day after the Legislature approved the package during a hastily organized special session.

He did so during a raucous press conference at an auto dealership in Brandon — a locale seemingly calculated to needle a president who’s become the target of a popular right-wing cheer: “Let’s go Brandon.” You can read the history of the rude origins of that meme here.

“I think Brandon, Fla., is a great American city,” DeSantis said. The crowd cheered and repeated the Brandon chant.

“We’re proud to be able to make a stand for freedom in Brandon, Fla.,” the governor said.

Meanwhile, Attorney General Ashley Moody — who joined DeSantis for the news conference, along with House Speaker Chris Sprowls, Senate President Wilton Simpson, and sponsors of the legislation at issue — filed a new lawsuit targeting one of Biden’s mandates, the one for health care workers.

Her complaint, filed Wednesday in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Florida, Pensacola Division, names the heads of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services and The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid (CMS) and seeks to block pending regulations requiring vaccines for employees of medical providers receiving funding from those agencies.

“Because CMS’s rushed and unlawful mandate threatens to defund the state’s medical facilities, bleed them of vital staff, hamper the quality of their medical care, and harm both Florida’s economy and the health of its citizens, Florida seeks immediate relief from this court,” the motion says.

DeSantis had called the Legislature into special session to get ahead of that mandate plus others targeting private businesses with more than 100 workers and federal contractors. Moody has filed legal challenges to those regulations, too.

The Legislature worked for three days and produced bills, now law, forbidding public employers from requiring vaccinations for workers; requiring private businesses that require vaccines to allow exemptions for health and religious reasons, or for people who acquire immunity through infection with the coronavirus, agree to submit to regular testing or wear personal protective equipment on the job.

Additionally, the Legislature voted to let DeSantis study whether to create a state agency to replace the Occupational Safety and Health Administration, which promulgated the mandates for private employers and contractors. And it clarified that parents decide whether public schoolchildren wear masks in class or get vaccinated against COVID-19.

“Not bad for a couple of weeks’ work,” DeSantis said after he finished signing the bills, referring to his original call for the special session on Oct. 21.

“At the end of the day, nobody in Florida should be losing their job over these jabs. We want people to be able to work, we want people to be able to provide for their families, we want people to be able to have livelihoods,” he said.

“And that’s just the way it’s gonna be in this state, and we’re going to stand by all these folks and we’re going to make sure that they have the ability to make the best decisions for themselves.”

Overall, 60.7 percent of Floridians are fully vaccinated, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Of the 50 states and the District of Columbia, Florida ranks 21st for its fully vaccinated residents.

Biden announced his mandate initiative on Sept. 9, saying he hoped to curtail a “pandemic of the unvaccinated” amid lagging vaccination rates. He argued that unvaxed people held an obligation to their neighbors to take the shots to prevent further death and suffering, saying, “We’ve been patient, but our patience is wearing thin. And your refusal has cost all of us.”

DeSantis argues the president exceeded his authority and rejected a suggestion the session represented a needless expense, citing impending vaccine mandate deadlines for workers and arguing that waiting could have cost “thousands and thousands” of jobs.

“If you think saving people’s jobs is a waste of taxpayer money, heck, that’s like Page 3 of the governors’ manual,” he said.

“Look, I could have very easily just said, ‘Hey, it’s all Biden’s fault; companies are doing it; it’s private; it’s not me; I’m not personally mandating it on anyone,’ so whatever. I could have washed my hands of it and said, ‘You know what, it’s their fault, or their fault.’ But that’s not leadership. Leadership means you get in there and you do what you can to stand by people. That’s exactly what we did today and that’s exactly what we’re going to continue to do.”
https://floridaphoenix.com/2021/11/18/d ... oved-them/

Saving peoples jobs, but not their lives. This is so more people can find employment opportunities in the Sunshine State. He is putting out feelers to run for president.
Facts do not cease to exist because they are ignored.-Huxley
"We can have democracy in this country, or we can have great wealth concentrated in the hands of a few, but we can't have both." ~ Louis Brandeis,

Re: New SARS type virus spreading in China

3516
TrueTexan wrote: Fri Nov 19, 2021 4:36 pm
DeSantis signs limits on vaccine mandates one day after Legislature approved them

Gov. Ron DeSantis affixed his signature Thursday to four bills designed to countermand President Joe Biden’s COVID vaccine mandates, one day after the Legislature approved the package during a hastily organized special session.

He did so during a raucous press conference at an auto dealership in Brandon — a locale seemingly calculated to needle a president who’s become the target of a popular right-wing cheer: “Let’s go Brandon.” You can read the history of the rude origins of that meme here.

“I think Brandon, Fla., is a great American city,” DeSantis said. The crowd cheered and repeated the Brandon chant.

“We’re proud to be able to make a stand for freedom in Brandon, Fla.,” the governor said.

Meanwhile, Attorney General Ashley Moody — who joined DeSantis for the news conference, along with House Speaker Chris Sprowls, Senate President Wilton Simpson, and sponsors of the legislation at issue — filed a new lawsuit targeting one of Biden’s mandates, the one for health care workers.

Her complaint, filed Wednesday in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Florida, Pensacola Division, names the heads of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services and The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid (CMS) and seeks to block pending regulations requiring vaccines for employees of medical providers receiving funding from those agencies.

“Because CMS’s rushed and unlawful mandate threatens to defund the state’s medical facilities, bleed them of vital staff, hamper the quality of their medical care, and harm both Florida’s economy and the health of its citizens, Florida seeks immediate relief from this court,” the motion says.

DeSantis had called the Legislature into special session to get ahead of that mandate plus others targeting private businesses with more than 100 workers and federal contractors. Moody has filed legal challenges to those regulations, too.

The Legislature worked for three days and produced bills, now law, forbidding public employers from requiring vaccinations for workers; requiring private businesses that require vaccines to allow exemptions for health and religious reasons, or for people who acquire immunity through infection with the coronavirus, agree to submit to regular testing or wear personal protective equipment on the job.

Additionally, the Legislature voted to let DeSantis study whether to create a state agency to replace the Occupational Safety and Health Administration, which promulgated the mandates for private employers and contractors. And it clarified that parents decide whether public schoolchildren wear masks in class or get vaccinated against COVID-19.

“Not bad for a couple of weeks’ work,” DeSantis said after he finished signing the bills, referring to his original call for the special session on Oct. 21.

“At the end of the day, nobody in Florida should be losing their job over these jabs. We want people to be able to work, we want people to be able to provide for their families, we want people to be able to have livelihoods,” he said.

“And that’s just the way it’s gonna be in this state, and we’re going to stand by all these folks and we’re going to make sure that they have the ability to make the best decisions for themselves.”

Overall, 60.7 percent of Floridians are fully vaccinated, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Of the 50 states and the District of Columbia, Florida ranks 21st for its fully vaccinated residents.

Biden announced his mandate initiative on Sept. 9, saying he hoped to curtail a “pandemic of the unvaccinated” amid lagging vaccination rates. He argued that unvaxed people held an obligation to their neighbors to take the shots to prevent further death and suffering, saying, “We’ve been patient, but our patience is wearing thin. And your refusal has cost all of us.”

DeSantis argues the president exceeded his authority and rejected a suggestion the session represented a needless expense, citing impending vaccine mandate deadlines for workers and arguing that waiting could have cost “thousands and thousands” of jobs.

“If you think saving people’s jobs is a waste of taxpayer money, heck, that’s like Page 3 of the governors’ manual,” he said.

“Look, I could have very easily just said, ‘Hey, it’s all Biden’s fault; companies are doing it; it’s private; it’s not me; I’m not personally mandating it on anyone,’ so whatever. I could have washed my hands of it and said, ‘You know what, it’s their fault, or their fault.’ But that’s not leadership. Leadership means you get in there and you do what you can to stand by people. That’s exactly what we did today and that’s exactly what we’re going to continue to do.”
https://floridaphoenix.com/2021/11/18/d ... oved-them/

Saving peoples jobs, but not their lives. This is so more people can find employment opportunities in the Sunshine State. He is putting out feelers to run for president.

That will end up in federal court though it might languish until SCOTUS finally decides on the OSHA regulations mandating vaccinations. Federal laws and regs always trump state laws and regs, this is all political theatre for DeSantis' possible run for the WH in 2024.
"Everyone is entitled to their own opinion, but not their own facts." - Daniel Patrick Moynihan

Re: New SARS type virus spreading in China

3517
Dutch police have shot and wounded at least two people after rioting erupted in Rotterdam over new Covid-19 measures.

Protesters threw rocks and fireworks at them and set police cars ablaze.

Hundreds of protesters had gathered to show their anger at government plans for a Covid vaccine pass, and a ban on fireworks on New Year's Eve.

The Netherlands imposed a three-week partial Covid lockdown last week as cases surged.

Seven people were injured in total and at least 20 arrested in a night condemned by Rotterdam's mayor as "an orgy of violence".

Police fired warning shots and direct shots "because the situation was life-threatening", a police spokesperson told Reuters news agency.
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-59355950

Image
"Everyone is entitled to their own opinion, but not their own facts." - Daniel Patrick Moynihan

Re: New SARS type virus spreading in China

3519
tonguengroover wrote: Sat Nov 20, 2021 6:37 pm Finally got the booster with my Doc's approval. It sucked last two nights. Headache and chills.
That's 7 vaccines for me this year. Prolly more than my whole life. maybe not, I forgot about the ones I had to get to go to Peru.
Very glad you got the booster, hope you're getting over the side effects and feeling more normal. Which vaccine?


FDA and CDC have approved boosters for everyone 18 years and older, which is what Biden wanted to do last August.
"Everyone is entitled to their own opinion, but not their own facts." - Daniel Patrick Moynihan

Re: New SARS type virus spreading in China

3521
tonguengroover wrote: Sun Nov 21, 2021 5:06 pm Got the Pfizer booster. Better now, shoulder stopped hurting too. Thanks.
Worst vaccines were the Tetanus and Shingles.
I didn't get much reaction to the Pfizer booster, but everyone is different. I had the worst reactions to the two pneumonia vaccinations, sore arm for days.

Glad you're better.
"Everyone is entitled to their own opinion, but not their own facts." - Daniel Patrick Moynihan

Re: New SARS type virus spreading in China

3522
The Pfizer booster is a walk in the park. Gonna need it.

New variant detected in South Africa. Small cluster of cases, large number of spike protein mutations. Experts are calling it "horrific" just based on the code. High potential for both increased transmission and immune escape. Thread here -

https://threadreaderapp.com/thread/1463 ... 11616.html

Those pan-coronavirus vaccines can't get here fast enough.

Re: New SARS type virus spreading in China

3523
By definition there will never be a pan-coronavirus vaccine. And pretty much by definition there will inevitably be more and more such a “horrific” mutation variant as the new S African variant we’ve just discovered. A variant that escapes current immunity is the only reason that we take note of that particular mutation. All it takes for a coronavirus mutation “success” is time and we’ve given it plenty of opportunity to do that.

As others have already said, this novel coronavirus is here to stay. A new possibility of “death-by-disease” is the reality we will need to adapt to. Just as human culture has had to do after other pandemics in the past (before vaccine technology was perfected).

The only thing that worries me is that a mutation variant comes along that is so viable and debilitating to the human body that our culture cannot adapt to it in time to prevent mass causalities and social collapse. But that is logically implausible since a deadlier virus would kill the host quicker and give it less opportunity to spread to new hosts. But somewhere in between the two may be a scenario we haven’t yet considered.
"It is better to be violent, if there is violence in our hearts, than to put on the cloak of non-violence to cover impotence. There is hope for a violent man to become non-violent. There is no such hope for the impotent." -Gandhi

Re: New SARS type virus spreading in China

3524
Bisbee wrote: Thu Nov 25, 2021 3:23 pm By definition there will never be a pan-coronavirus vaccine. And pretty much by definition there will inevitably be more and more such a “horrific” mutation variant as the new S African variant we’ve just discovered. A variant that escapes current immunity is the only reason that we take note of that particular mutation. All it takes for a coronavirus mutation “success” is time and we’ve given it plenty of opportunity to do that.

As others have already said, this novel coronavirus is here to stay. A new possibility of “death-by-disease” is the reality we will need to adapt to. Just as human culture has had to do after other pandemics in the past (before vaccine technology was perfected).

The only thing that worries me is that a mutation variant comes along that is so viable and debilitating to the human body that our culture cannot adapt to it in time to prevent mass causalities and social collapse. But that is logically implausible since a deadlier virus would kill the host quicker and give it less opportunity to spread to new hosts. But somewhere in between the two may be a scenario we haven’t yet considered.
You nailed it Bisbee.
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"Resistance is futile. You will be assimilated!" Loquacious of many. Texas Chapter Chief Cat Herder.

Re: New SARS type virus spreading in China

3525
Another article on the new SA variant.
The World Health Organization is monitoring a new variant with numerous mutations to the spike protein, scheduling a special meeting Friday to discuss what it may mean for vaccines and treatments, officials said Thursday.

The variant, called B.1.1.529, has been detected in South Africa in small numbers, according to the WHO.

“We don’t know very much about this yet. What we do know is that this variant has a large number of mutations. And the concern is that when you have so many mutations, it can have an impact on how the virus behaves,” Dr. Maria Van Kerkhove, WHO’s technical lead on Covid-19, said in a Q&A that was livestreamed on the organization’s social media channels.

The monitoring of the new variant comes as Covid cases surge around the world heading into the holiday season, with the WHO reporting hot spots in all regions and particularly in Europe.

The U.K. announced it would ban flights from six African countries, including South Africa, starting midday Friday.

The UK Health Security Agency “is investigating a new variant,” Health Secretary Sajid Javid said Thursday in a tweet announcing the travel restrictions. “More data is needed but we’re taking precautions now.”

South African scientists have detected more than 30 mutations to the spike protein, the part of the virus that binds to cells in the body, South African scientist Tulio de Oliveira said in a media briefing hosted by the South Africa Department of Health on Thursday.

The B.1.1.529 variant contains multiple mutations associated with increased antibody resistance, which may reduce the effectiveness of vaccines, along with mutations that generally make it more contagious, according to slides he presented at the briefing. Other mutations in the new variant haven’t been seen until now, so scientists don’t yet know whether they are significant or will change how the virus behaves, according to the presentation.

The variant has spread rapidly through the Gauteng province, which contains the country’s largest city of Johannesburg.

“Especially when the spike happens in Gauteng, everybody travels in and out of Gauteng from all corners of South Africa. So it’s a given that in the next few days, the beginning of rising positivity rate and numbers is going to be happening. It’s a matter of days and weeks before we see that,” South Africa Minister of Health Joe Phaahla said during the briefing.

The variant has also been detected in Botswana and Hong Kong, Phaahla said.

“Right now, researchers are getting together to understand where these mutations are in the spike protein and the furin cleavage site, and what that potentially may mean for our diagnostics or therapeutics and our vaccines,” Van Kerkhove said. She said there are fewer than 100 full genome sequences of the new mutation.

The virus evolution working group will decide if B.1.1.529 will become a variant of interest or a variant of concern, after which the WHO would assign the variant a Greek name, Van Kerkhove said.

“It’s really important that there are no knee-jerk responses here, especially with relation to South Africa,” Dr. Mike Ryan, executive director of the WHO’s emergencies program, said.
https://www.cnbc.com/2021/11/25/who-cal ... tions.html
"Everyone is entitled to their own opinion, but not their own facts." - Daniel Patrick Moynihan

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