Coronavirus COVID-19 - Global Health Pandemic #97

[jjenny]

Interesting. Can you provide a link, I would like to read more about this and be informed, since I was previously vaccinated with Moderna.

I had Moderna as well.

"That 100-microgram dose ultimately became the one authorized for mass use in dozens of countries. But Moderna scientists later showed that a half-dose seemed to be just as good as the standard dose at stimulating immune protection4."

Quarter-dose of Moderna COVID vaccine still rouses a big immune response (nature.com)

 

[Sundog]

I had Moderna as well.

"That 100-microgram dose ultimately became the one authorized for mass use in dozens of countries. But Moderna scientists later showed that a half-dose seemed to be just as good as the standard dose at stimulating immune protection4."

Quarter-dose of Moderna COVID vaccine still rouses a big immune response (nature.com)

It will be interesting to see the study of dose reduction in the Pfizer vaccine which is underway in Belgium, according to this article. I do have concerns that Moderna should do a larger clinical study before making this decision. And the dosage decision should be based on what is most effective, i.e. the science, not on vaccine equity issues. I wonder what the ages were of the 35 people in Modern's initial study. I will go back and read the actual pre-print ot find out.

 

[ilovewings]

Anti-vaxxer club boss, 56, dies of Covid after mocking people for getting 'experimental' vaccine | Daily Mail Online

Sorry to sound uncharitable or whatever, but this man repeatedly mocked the vaccinated and is now dead from Covid. I’m running out of sympathy - play stupid games, win stupid prizes.

Ditto

 

[ilovewings]

Delete duplicate

 

[Sundog]

It will be interesting to see the study of dose reduction in the Pfizer vaccine which is underway in Belgium, according to this article. I do have concerns that Moderna should do a larger clinical study before making this decision. And the dosage decision should be based on what is most effective, i.e. the science, not on vaccine equity issues. I wonder what the ages were of the 35 people in Modern's initial study. I will go back and read the actual pre-print ot find out.

Here is the preprint if anyone else is interested. Looks like the study of reduced dosage of booster Moderna vaccine involved 35 people across three age groups. Authors recognize that it is a small sample but that further studies are indicated.

https://www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1101/2021.06.30.21259787v1.full.pdf

 

[nhmemorymaker]

Treating COVID-19—Off-Label and Compassionate Use and Clinical Trials During Pandemics

Although many drugs have in vitro activity against different coronaviruses, no clinical evidence currently supports the efficacy and safety of any drug against any coronavirus in humans, including SARS-CoV-2. Numerous drugs that have been highly promising in vitro for other infectious diseases have failed in clinical studies. If in vitro activity automatically translated into clinical activity, more antimicrobial drugs for all kinds of infectious diseases would be available. Yet, there are published case reports of old and new drugs with in vitro activity against SARS-CoV-2 that have been given to patients but without a comparison control group. The administration of any unproven drug as a “last resort” wrongly assumes that benefit will be more likely than harm. However, when a drug with unknown clinical effects is given to patients who have severe illness from a new disease (like COVID-19), there is no way to know whether the patients had benefited or were harmed if they were not compared to a concurrent control group. A common interpretation of off-label use and compassionate use of drugs is that is that if the patient died, they died from the disease, but if the patient survived, they survived because of the given drug. This is not true.

Excellent information. Thank you.

 

[nhmemorymaker]

I couldn't agree with you more. The law currently says that the Border Force should not be allowing the migrants in, and yet .....

I know that I personally can't plan on visiting the US , as I usually do, when I am allowed to travel (which should be by your next summer, if our projections hold up). Instead, I am hoping that I can visit my best friend in Canada - if Canada can keep itself relatively safe, now that they are opening the border.

I definitely vote for a Websleuths Party in Canada.... ha!

 

[nhmemorymaker]

This looks interesting! I just pulled up the latest, though, and now, they're not looking to submit the vaccine for emergency use until Q4. Originally, it was going to be submitted in Q3.

It almost seems as though the US government is slowing them down.

"The U.S. government has recently instructed us to prioritize alignment with the FDA on our analytic methods before conducting additional U.S. manufacturing and further indicated that the U.S. government will not fund additional U.S. manufacturing until such agreement has been made."
​

Story here.

Again, this could be politics in play. Or crony capitalism, whereby some drug research companies are prioritized over others.

I don't mean to be so full of doom and gloom today. I need to get to work, which is probably good, since I'm being a wet blanket. Catch up with you later!

Welllll... I find this information very interesting--I hope we get a clearer understanding. It does not seem to make sense....

Why? Why would it be political...

 

[jjenny]

Welllll... I find this information very interesting--I hope we get a clearer understanding. It does not seem to make sense....

Why? Why would it be political...

Maybe because US government already purchased hundreds of millions of doses of Pfizer and Moderna? We don't really need one more vaccine as of now.

 

[nhmemorymaker]

My parents won't get vaccinated. My newborn woke me up in the middle of the night last night. All I could think of when I woke up was that maybe I could get my parents to wear N95 masks. So I found myself essentially panic buying N95 masks in the middle of the night like they weren't going to be there if I waited 5 minutes.

I was reading this thread before falling asleep. I figure the people in this thread will understand if anyone would. I need my parents to make it through this next wave. But my poor deluded father listens to Dr Mercola.

Did you see this article on Mercola this week? Maybe you could convince your dad that he has been called a "superspreader"

CNN tracked down a super-spreader of Covid-19 misinformation. See how he reacted - CNN Video

 

[nhmemorymaker]

I recently bought some more N95 and KN95 masks online. I think we'll need them through the winter, when we go out. I wish we didn't have to, but there it is.

I hope your parents wise up. It's best for everyone's health, especially the little ones who aren't old enough to get the vaccine. Myself and my DIL's mother will be taking care of our grandchild while my DIL goes back to work. I think her new workplace is requiring all employees to get the vaccine, so hopefully she won't be at too great risk of exposure.

ETA: Congrats on being a new mom! Our grandchild just celebrated her first birthday, so I know its stressful for new parents going through this pandemic. It's all working out ok, though. You have to be firm about keeping unvaccinated people away from the little one.

I was listening to a doctor on NPR today, who said the "KN95 masks are much more comfortable". Can anyone here respond to this???

 

[nhmemorymaker]

That is weird- what are they thinking is causing these respiratory illnesses or are they totally baffled?

There are lots of articles, various US cities, UK....

This statement below is out of South Carolina... it emphasizes the IMPORTANCE of children wearing masks.

“We are seeing record numbers of patients with non-COVID respiratory viruses like RSV very different than other years. Our intensive care unit at the Children’s Hospital are overflowing,” Eckard said.

She’s said it’s proof masks can protect unvaccinated kids from multiple viruses because as mass-wearing and restrictions lightened up, they saw more illness.

Fact or Fiction: Are more kids getting COVID?

 

[jjenny]

I was listening to a doctor on NPR today, who said the "KN95 masks are much more comfortable". Can anyone here respond to this???

KN95 have ear loops. Yes, they are more comfortable, presumably because with ear loops it's harder to achieve an airtight fit, so they likely let more air around the edges. Which is not really a good a thing for covid transmission. That said, for general population (not working with covid patients) KN95 are more user friendly, easier to take off and put back on, and so on.

 

[nhmemorymaker]

I've bowed out of this thread, but I got an alert on your post and didn't want to be rude I'm not sure what you mean by the question, though. Every drug used in the US has to be FDA approved unless its approved for emergency use. There is no alternative I've ever heard of and, afaik, none of the covid shots have been approved yet.

I was asking because Astra Zeneca is not manufactured in the US.

 

[SoCalDavidS]

Per Worldometers - Florida - August 6, 2021

New Cases - 22,783

Deaths - 199

United States COVID: 36,377,342 Cases and 632,385 Deaths - Worldometer

 

[margarita25]

Rsbm
But, it's not just the migrants, it's the whole attitude here. It's a bike rally that's expected to host 700,000 participants, it's huge indoor weddings, it's schools where children don't wear masks.
.

Lol, you got that right. It’s not just the migrants, rotf. I think the issue began when we were told it was “going to go away”, “it affects virtually nobody”, that it’s okay to hold unmasked, undistanced superspreader rallies, that mitigation measures and masks are a violation of people’s rights. Our baseline was up well before “migrants” lol, highest in the world. There’s been a problem in the States, much of which has nothing to do with migrants, and this is a fact. Shoot, there are probably more infections transmitted this past year in churches lol.

 

[margarita25]

This sounds like a good idea.

Defense Secretary Austin expected to make Covid-19 vaccine mandatory for active duty troops - CNNPolitics

Yes, one reason I heard explained is that this is a matter of National Security: If this sweeps through the bases and takes our troops down, then our country is not protected.

 

[jjenny]

Lol, you got that right. It’s not just the migrants, rotf. I think the issue began when we were told it was “going to go away”, “it affects virtually nobody”, that it’s okay to hold unmasked, undistanced superspreader rallies, that mitigation measures and masks are a violation of people’s rights. Our baseline was up well before “migrants” lol, highest in the world. There’s been a problem in the States, much of which has nothing to do with migrants, and this is a fact. Shoot, there are probably more infections transmitted this past year in churches lol.

We are still having mass events and huge concerts, with hundreds of thousands in attendance. It's a good guess vast majority of people at those concerts are not migrants.

 

[GRT]

Yes, one reason I heard explained is that this is a matter of National Security: If this sweeps through the bases and takes our troops down, then our country is not protected.

I recently read that George Washington had the soldiers inoculated for small pox. Inoculation back then wasn't with a vaccine, but rather through variolation, which involved scratching the skin and then putting some of the small pox germ on the skin. While 1-2% died from variolation, fully 30% died if they contracted small pox.

We may well not have won the Revolutionary War had President Washington not insisted the soldiers were inoculated.

I think that's a story that's apropos in today's world.

 

[ringbearer]

I was asking because Astra Zeneca is not manufactured in the US.

This is what I found:

FDA Approval is Required by Law
Federal law requires all new drugs in the U.S. be shown to be safe and effective for their intended use prior to marketing. However, some drugs are available in the U.S. even though they have never received the required FDA approval. Many health care professionals and patients are unaware that some of the drugs prescribed are not FDA approved.

FDA permits some unapproved prescription drugs to be marketed if:

• the drug is subject to an open drug efficacy study implementation (DESI) program proceeding,
• health care professionals rely on the drug to treat serious medical conditions when there is no FDA-approved drug to treat the condition,
• there is insufficient supply of an FDA-approved drug.

The law allows some unapproved prescription drugs to be lawfully marketed if they meet the criteria of generally recognized as safe and effective (GRASE) or grandfathered. However, the agency is not aware of any human prescription drug that is lawfully marketed as grandfathered.

Unapproved Drugs