Coronavirus COVID-19 - Global Health Pandemic #83

[GRT]

I was quoting the volunteer in the article! And per TOS I only quoted a small amount of the article.

I will EDIT the post so it's clear it's not about me personally.

Sorry for any confusion on this.

Oh! Silly me! Thank you for setting me straight!

 

[musicaljoke]

I did a quick perusal on the search term for "withdrawn" studies. Of course many hydroxycloroquine ones.
[...]

ETA: I see actively recruiting for Regeneron trials also. But, would hate to be the one getting the placebo... as that would really be bad... MOO

Just a word of caution about emotionally embracing Regeneron before we have the tests in. It might be great, or it might be another hydroxycloroquine fiasco. Maybe preemptively buying 400 million dollars worth of Regeneron from a golfing budding is just all that.

We need the science.

Provider of Trump Covid drug is president's golf friend

 

[10ofRods]

Just a word of caution about emotionally embracing Regeneron before we have the tests in. It might be great, or it might be another hydroxycloroquine fiasco. Maybe preemptively buying 400 million dollars worth of Regeneron from a golfing budding is just all that.

We need the science.

Provider of Trump Covid drug is president's golf friend

It's essentially biochemically identical to convalescent plasma, so I'm quite optimistic about it. Naturally, it has to go through testing before any of the rest of us will see it.

 

[24Roses]

Iowa numbers today: As of 10:00-11:00 a.m.. we had 1,264 new confirmed cases for a total of 99,620 confirmed cases of which 76,254 had recovered (+319). 6 more had passed away for a total of 1,460. While there were 63 hospitalized again in the last 24 hrs. they are decreasing with 438 total currently. I have noticed on the Iowa covid site that 33 Iowans are hospitalized out of state. They have been reporting this for a while now, but I just recently really began paying more attention to it. There are 23,366 active confirmed cases. Oct. 11: 1,264 new cases, 319 recoveries, and 6 deaths
Iowa COVID-19 Information
Iowa COVID-19 Information Link at the bottom will take you to hospital info. It is usally updated every 1-2 days.

 

[SouthAussie]

Volunteer Who Tested New Oxford Vaccine and Astrazeneca Tested Positive for Coronavirus | Technology | En24 News

A Spanish nurse named Joan Pons, who works in England, confirmed that tested positive for coronavirus after being one of the volunteers who tested the vaccine at the University of Oxford and the Astrazeneca laboratory in that country.

The professional indicated that this is the first time that he has tested positive in a PCR test, after having performed 12 tests in the past.

According to the newspaper La Vanguardia, Pons began with symptoms last Wednesday, when he got up with a nasal congestion and headache. At that time, he called the laboratory, who told him that he should have an exam.

The man has been living in the city of Sheffield for more than 20 years, and in June he volunteered to test the vaccine at the two aforementioned institutions.

At the moment, Pons and his family are isolated at home, waiting for the symptoms of the virus to have completely gone.

So, does this mean the vaccine is ineffective in some people? Part of the 50% who may not be protected by it?
Or maybe he is part of the placebo recipients.

It will take some time before we know as no-one knows until the trial results are tabulated, as per vaccine testing procedures posted earlier.

 

[Cool Cats]

Oh! Silly me! Thank you for setting me straight!

No prob! I EDITED it to make it clearer.

I wish I could take credit and say I'm helping out by volunteering to do Covid-19
vaccination research trials. These are selfless brave people who we do not know because they are all anonymous.

 

[SouthAussie]

Or as Faster Pussycat would put it:

I'm on the lame train
I got a first class ticket
On the nonstop to nowhere...

Singapore launches Covid-secure luxury cruises ... to nowhere

The Singapore government has given approval for cruises to nowhere in a bid to help a tourism sector battered by the coronavirus pandemic. Residents of the city-state will from November be allowed to board the cruises, during which they will be confined to the ships for the entire time.

The ships launching from Singapore will only be allowed to carry half their full capacity, with extra cleaning schedules and mandatory masks “at all times”.

Passengers will be obliged to take Covid-19 tests, and mingling will be discouraged.

Singapore is doing really well with covid. Have had their first and second waves already. Hopefully they will have good measures in place to make sure no-one gets on or off these cruises with covid and reinfects their community.

IMO

 

[CharlestonGal]

I did a quick perusal on the search term for "withdrawn" studies. Of course many hydroxycloroquine ones.

Thanks, I've bookmarked in case someone I know gets it so that I can click on that one page and go to the map part and know IMMEDIATELY what hospitals are doing certain trials in my area.

Until I did that, I didn't realize (I guess I should have) is that many trials are hospital specific. Some insurance companies' policy coverage allow you to go to multiple ones (as opposed to ObamaCare folks, who usually are very restricted on which ones they are covered in network)

MOO GREAT LINK for all of us to keep and share.

ETA: I see actively recruiting for Regeneron trials also. But, would hate to be the one getting the placebo... as that would really be bad... MOO

Maybe not necessarily bad. The children of the women that received placebo thalidomide proved to be the definite winners in that scenario. Getting the active agent is not always your friend.

That aside, I do believe antibodies to be generally safe. They are already safely in use in other areas of medicine.

 

[10ofRods]

So, does this mean the vaccine is ineffective in some people? Part of the 50% who may not be protected by it?
Or maybe he is part of the placebo recipients.

It will take some time before we know as no-one knows until the trial results are tabulated, as per vaccine testing procedures posted earlier.

It sounds to me like he was in the first phase of testing (where people do know that they got the vaccine - he's described as a scientist who tested positive).

The first group included lab workers, scientists, family members of scientists, etc. It was only in and around Oxford and its labs.

Unless 50% of that first group got CoVid (and he's said to be the only one), we have no proof that it doesn't work in 50% of people. There are concerns about its effectiveness on the elderly and the obese.

I'm surprised to hear a figure of 50% failure, based on the fact that so many vaccines have proven highly effective in their phase one trials.

 

[SouthAussie]

It sounds to me like he was in the first phase of testing (where people do know that they got the vaccine - he's described as a scientist who tested positive).

The first group included lab workers, scientists, family members of scientists, etc. It was only in and around Oxford and its labs.

Unless 50% of that first group got CoVid (and he's said to be the only one), we have no proof that it doesn't work in 50% of people. There are concerns about its effectiveness on the elderly and the obese.

I'm surprised to hear a figure of 50% failure, based on the fact that so many vaccines have proven highly effective in their phase one trials.

I mentioned the 50% efficacy only because that is what they are aiming for.


What does the blueprint say?
* It says that the goal is to develop a vaccine with 50 per cent effectiveness, as mandated by the Food and Drug Administration.
‘A vaccine with 50 per cent effectiveness’: Astrazeneca releases 111-page Covid-19 vaccine trial blueprint | All you need to know

 

[10ofRods]

I did a quick perusal on the search term for "withdrawn" studies. Of course many hydroxycloroquine ones.

Thanks, I've bookmarked in case someone I know gets it so that I can click on that one page and go to the map part and know IMMEDIATELY what hospitals are doing certain trials in my area.

Until I did that, I didn't realize (I guess I should have) is that many trials are hospital specific. Some insurance companies' policy coverage allow you to go to multiple ones (as opposed to ObamaCare folks, who usually are very restricted on which ones they are covered in network)

MOO GREAT LINK for all of us to keep and share.

ETA: I see actively recruiting for Regeneron trials also. But, would hate to be the one getting the placebo... as that would really be bad... MOO

I see "recruiting" (is that what you mean by actively recruiting)?

You can't actually see the hospital names - you'd have to call their number or guess at which clinic/entity in that town was part of the trial.

At least I couldn't.

 

[beatrixpotter]

RSBM. BBM.
Would you have a link for that ?

Caution raised over SARS vaccine

Immunization with SARS Coronavirus Vaccines Leads to Pulmonary Immunopathology on Challenge with the SARS Virus

"
Results
All vaccines induced serum neutralizing antibody with increasing dosages and/or alum significantly increasing responses. Significant reductions of SARS-CoV two days after challenge was seen for all vaccines and prior live SARS-CoV. All mice exhibited histopathologic changes in lungs two days after challenge including all animals vaccinated (Balb/C and C57BL/6) or given live virus, influenza vaccine, or PBS suggesting infection occurred in all. Histopathology seen in animals given one of the SARS-CoV vaccines was uniformly a Th2-type immunopathology with prominent eosinophil infiltration, confirmed with special eosinophil stains. The pathologic changes seen in all control groups lacked the eosinophil prominence.

Conclusions
These SARS-CoV vaccines all induced antibody and protection against infection with SARS-CoV. However, challenge of mice given any of the vaccines led to occurrence of Th2-type immunopathology suggesting hypersensitivity to SARS-CoV components was induced. Caution in proceeding to application of a SARS-CoV vaccine in humans is indicated."

A Double-Inactivated Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus Vaccine Provides Incomplete Protection in Mice and Induces Increased Eosinophilic Proinflammatory Pulmonary Response upon Challenge

"The major conclusion that can be drawn from these studies is that although DIV SARS vaccines do elicit protection under optimal conditions (homologous challenge in immunocompetent individuals), more stringent challenges reveal likely failures. If DIV vaccine approaches are to be used for SARS in the future, efforts must be made to improve the quality and magnitude of the vaccine-induced immune response while limiting the vaccine's capacity to induce immune pathology. "

Some of these seemed to also indicate that there was a worse response in older mice. So are they testing these vaccines in older populations of humans as well?

These were apparently all consistent issues with previous coronavirus vaccine attempts so it's concerning that nothing changed between now and then other than a desperate need for the vaccine.

Coronavirus vaccine developers wary of errant antibodies

"There are mounting theoretical concerns that vaccines generating antibodies against SARS-CoV-2 may bind to the virus without neutralizing it. Should this happen, the non-neutralizing antibodies could enhance viral entry into cells and viral replication and end up worsening infection instead of offering protection, through the poorly understood phenomenon of ADE. ADE “is a genuine concern,” says virologist Kevin Gilligan, a senior consultant with Biologics Consulting, who advises thorough safety studies. “Because if the gun is jumped, and a vaccine is widely distributed that is disease enhancing, that would be worse than actually not doing any vaccination at all.”"

 

[dixiegirl1035]

RSBM. BBM.
Would you have a link for that ?

If you go down in this article to "Failed vaccines".. it gives an overview of some reasons vaccines fail.

Threatwatch: Could a MERS vaccine make people sicker?

And if you go down to #10 in this article, to "Adverse reactions"

Vaccines to prevent severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus-induced disease

 

[dixiegirl1035]

Just a word of caution about emotionally embracing Regeneron before we have the tests in. It might be great, or it might be another hydroxycloroquine fiasco. Maybe preemptively buying 400 million dollars worth of Regeneron from a golfing budding is just all that.

We need the science.

Provider of Trump Covid drug is president's golf friend

Understood, my fear and on these trials and participating is being in the placebo group, no matter what is being tested! If I had to commit to 25 months on saline......

 

[JerseyGirl]

Virus that causes Covid-19 can survive up to 28 days on surfaces, scientists find

Australian scientists have found that the virus that causes Covid-19 can survive for up to 28 days on surfaces such as the glass on mobile phones, stainless steel, vinyl and paper banknotes.

 

[beatrixpotter]

It sounds like the previous bad reactions were only in animal trials? Were they not tried in humans at all before? Anyone know more? This article indicates a good response in humans but I didn't read where they'd actually tested response to actual wild exposure to the virus.

It sounds like just a good response to the vaccine but not how it measures up to actual exposure to the virus from what I can tell. I'm curious if anyone knows if any of the vaccine trials have reached the exposure to wild virus phase or not?

Vaccines targeting SARS-CoV-2 tested in humans

"Earlier animal studies with some vaccines against SARS-CoV-1 and Middle East respiratory syndrome, particularly inactivated whole virus vaccines, demonstrated that when vaccinated animals were exposed to wild-type virus, non-neutralizing antibody and TH2 cellular responses occurred and were associated with the pathologic infiltration of eosinophils into the lungs9, also called ‘vaccine-enhanced disease’. The results of these three vaccine trials1,2,3 provide reassurance that the character of the immune response differs from what was seen with vaccine-enhanced disease in animals and features neutralizing antibody and a TH1 cellular response10. Encouragingly, similar immune responses have been demonstrated in nonhuman primates immunized with vaccines against SARS-CoV-2 and challenged with wild-type virus11,12."

 

[dixiegirl1035]

So, does this mean the vaccine is ineffective in some people? Part of the 50% who may not be protected by it?
Or maybe he is part of the placebo recipients.

It will take some time before we know as no-one knows until the trial results are tabulated, as per vaccine testing procedures posted earlier.

Doh on me! Great point by you that I hadn't thought of.

 

[CharlestonGal]

If you go down in this article to "Failed vaccines".. it gives an overview of some reasons vaccines fail.

Threatwatch: Could a MERS vaccine make people sicker?

And if you go down to #10 in this article, to "Adverse reactions"

Vaccines to prevent severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus-induced disease

This problem has been known for a long while. I'm sure vaccine researchers are keeping a keen eye out for it.

Antibody-dependent enhancement and SARS-CoV-2 vaccines and therapies | Nature Microbiology

One potential hurdle for antibody-based vaccines and therapeutics is the risk of exacerbating COVID-19 severity via antibody-dependent enhancement (ADE). ADE can increase the severity of multiple viral infections, including other respiratory viruses such as respiratory syncytial virus (RSV)9,10 and measles11,12. ADE in respiratory infections is included in a broader category named enhanced respiratory disease (ERD), which also includes non-antibody-based mechanisms such as cytokine cascades and cell-mediated immunopathology (Box 1). ADE caused by enhanced viral replication has been observed for other viruses that infect macrophages, including dengue virus13,14 and feline infectious peritonitis virus (FIPV)15. Furthermore, ADE and ERD has been reported for SARS-CoV and MERS-CoV both in vitro and in vivo.

 

[dixiegirl1035]

I see "recruiting" (is that what you mean by actively recruiting)?

You can't actually see the hospital names - you'd have to call their number or guess at which clinic/entity in that town was part of the trial.

At least I couldn't.

Far right side. Some have hospitals, some have other designations

 

[beatrixpotter]

I wonder when the new rates for next year's health insurance will be coming out. As the rates are locally based iirc, the rates in New York are going to really increase. I'm wondering how much they'll go up all over the place due to COVID as iirc they went up 20% last year in my area on average.

Hmmm, I guess we'll know in another month or so? Wonder if it will come out before or after the election?

I "liked" this but I don't "like" this.