You do know that GreatGameIndia is a consipiracy theorist website that basically got famous with covid fake news, right? If you trust them, you also should accept that they state that there's no evidence the vaccines prevent severe illness and other such fun things. Prior to Covid, there were a niche site that just trafficked in endless random conspiracy theories, but since last January, they went 100% covid because they found gullible people willing to repost their content and found it was way more profitable.
Yes, compared to the megamillion or whatever lottery. It feels like good odds and that's why it works. A number of other States joined in the covid Who-wanna-be-a-Millionaire lottery. Analysis: Vaccinations jumped 33% after Vax-a-Million news (apnews.com)
Looks like the Indian variant is doubling in the US about every 2 weeks or so. https://covid.cdc.gov/covid-data-tracker/#variant-proportions It's the B 1.617.2 variant on that list. As of the last report for the week ending 5/22 it was about 2.5% of the reported cases. So that means it should be up to about 5% by now. Based on the UK it should take over as the dominant strain in about 8 weeks or so and we should see cases tick up a good bit in the unvaccinated areas. UK cases are up about 150% since bottoming out and the Indian strain taking over and their overall vaccination rates roughly match ours.
Posting this here as I don't think it's controversial enough to merit the D&D thread. https://www.nytimes.com/2021/06/10/...l?action=click&module=Opinion&pgtype=Homepage The Vaccines We Have Are Good. But They Could Be So Much Better. Soon after the novel coronavirus emerged, its genome was sequenced and vaccines were developed at, yes, warp speed. These are all herculean tasks that deserve praise. But America’s achievement stops there. The initial vaccine strategy was reactive and tactical, not decisive and strategic. While it prioritized getting safe, effective vaccines into bodies as quickly as possible, it did not consider how to prevent variants or subsequent waves of the virus. All coronaviruses produce variants, and as with prior coronavirus outbreaks, variants of SARS-CoV-2 emerged as the virus spread from Wuhan, China, across the planet. The next danger is the further evolution of variants that can overcome the immunity provided by existing Covid-19 vaccines and prior infections. The second generation of Covid-19 vaccines, which are now in development as booster shots, is aimed at known variants, but they are not designed with future variants in mind. This is “whack-a-mole” vaccine development, an inefficient and costly approach that chases yesterday’s virus. What we need is “kill shot” immunity, which would protect people against all current and future variants and bring an end to the pandemic. It is possible to make a vaccine like this — if scientists closely study the patterns of how viruses mutate, and design vaccines for the viruses that we’re about to face, not just the ones we have now. This approach is especially important considering the number of ways viruses can emerge in humans, including from natural spillover (when a virus spreads from one species to another) or an accident in a virus research laboratory (“lab leak”) — both scenarios that are, appropriately, the subject of serious investigation. Whatever the results of those inquiries, the United States must use this pandemic to ensure that emergency vaccine development can address all possibilities. One approach is to predict which variants are most likely to occur in a circulating virus and prepare to defeat them in advance using pre-designed vaccines. This might seem futuristic, but the capability already exists. The ability to predict and counter pathogens emerging naturally, as well as genetically altered ones released from unregulated laboratories, was first developed by the U.S. government over a decade ago. In 2008, while working at the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, also known as Darpa, our team, led by Dr. Callahan, became alarmed by a series of bird flu outbreaks in humans associated with several foreign poultry vaccine companies. We were particularly concerned that well-intentioned but unregulated virus research in foreign laboratories could produce viruses that were highly infectious and capable of spreading rapidly in human populations. Between 2008 and 2016, Darpa developed a program called Prophecy to study the evolution of viruses to predict mutations and develop vaccines. The agency combined it with an alert network run by doctors working in at least seven hospitals around the world, including in places such as Singapore; Jakarta, Indonesia; and Hong Kong. Here’s how Prophecy worked: First, researchers studied the genome of a dangerous virus to identify areas where the virus can mutate without destroying its ability to reproduce. An overwhelming majority of mutations make a virus weaker, so most mutations can be ignored. Second, scientists used computer models to test the remaining mutated viruses and simulate all possible changes in surface proteins, which are important for a virus’s ability to infect. Scientists then designed antibodies on the computer to target these proteins and help the body recognize the virus and fight it off. By working with our research partners, we could confirm our predictions by sequencing the newest variants obtained from patients around the world. Scientists can further adjust the designer vaccine or antibody based on immunity observed among people who survived the infection. In addition to strengthening global health and health security, technologies and processes developed under Prophecy were instrumental in helping pharmaceutical companies make experimental vaccines and antibodies more rapidly to treat cancers that evaded the patient’s immune system, and drugs that would prevent emergence of antibiotic-resistant microbes. Unfortunately, the changes in U.S. political leadership in 2016 as well as budget changes led to the demise of research collaborations in nine countries, including China, Russia, Indonesia and Nigeria. The Biden administration’s re-engagement in global health signals an opportunity to restart Prophecy or a similar program. As the United States begins month 18 of the pandemic, the nation should carefully reconsider the next steps in vaccine development. We need to restore foreign research collaborations and re-establish surveillance at international hot spots where animal-to-human infections commonly occur, in China and other countries. Second, the United States must resume relationships with foreign laboratories that work with dangerous pathogens to ensure safe, secure and ethical best practices. These collaborations can be incentivized by sharing technologies such as mRNA vaccines. Third, Prophecy and similar tools need to be updated to better assess whether a virus is natural or engineered. Determining the origin of a virus allows those in charge to put in place controls to reduce the frequency and severity of future pandemics. While Prophecy’s first act was accurate prediction of pathogen evolution, it was the program’s second act that best serves us now: the ability to anticipate viral mutations before they occur and to counter the mutations using vaccines. These kinds of vaccines are already being studied in advanced clinical trials to prevent recurrence of drug-resistant cancers and to produce a universal influenza vaccine. Bringing these technologies to the fight against coronavirus variants could help end the current pandemic and prevent the next one. The nation should move quickly. Michael V. Callahan is a former Covid-19 special adviser to the assistant secretary for public health preparedness at the Department of Health and Human Services, and was incident commander for nine international highly dangerous pathogen outbreaks. He is director of Clinical Translation at the Vaccine and Immunotherapy Center at Massachusetts General Hospital. Mark C. Poznansky is an infectious diseases physician and director of the Vaccine and Immunotherapy Center at Massachusetts General Hospital and an associate professor at Harvard Medical School.
I hate titles that piss on success with promises of even better success..."a more perfect success." Dude is calling for even more frankenstein studies at foreign locations, which is the heart of the labber controversy. I get that it's eye catching, but give me a break...
They address that specifically: "We were particularly concerned that well-intentioned but unregulated virus research in foreign laboratories could produce viruses that were highly infectious and capable of spreading rapidly in human populations. Between 2008 and 2016, Darpa developed a program called Prophecy to study the evolution of viruses to predict mutations and develop vaccines. The agency combined it with an alert network run by doctors working in at least seven hospitals around the world, including in places such as Singapore; Jakarta, Indonesia; and Hong Kong." The program they are advocating would provide more control and transparency on what happens in foreign labs.
The primary issue with the vaccines in my eyes is their side effects and lack of research relating to various people with pre-existing conditions (autoimmune diseases seem to be a significant one). The side effects are very common and can be very strong. There is a sliding scale based on age and health where the vaccines produce a greater injury rate than covid does. The conspiracy theorist anti covid vax people get a lot of attention, but based on the effects of the vaccine compared to the effects of covid you can have a rational minded younger person decide not to get vaccinated or have a parent make a completely rational decision not to vaccinate their child. We can't be in denial about the side effects of these vaccines relative to other common vaccines and relative to the actual virus it is supposed to be protecting us against. I think it is disappointing that this has become practically a taboo topic for some. The next generation of covid vaccines needs to have dramatic reduction in side effects if we are to expect more people to take it.
Disappointing that Ivermectin has strangely become censored and taboo by some. Looks like it’s showing significant benefits in covid treatment and prophylaxis. Fluoxetine aka Prozac is also showing significant covid treatment benefits and also benefits for long covid. https://journals.lww.com/americantherapeutics/Abstract/9000/Ivermectin_for_Prevention_and_Treatment_of.98040.aspx Data sources: We searched bibliographic databases up to April 25, 2021. Two review authors sifted for studies, extracted data, and assessed risk of bias. Meta-analyses were conducted and certainty of the evidence was assessed using the GRADE approach and additionally in trial sequential analyses for mortality. Twenty-four randomized controlled trials involving 3406 participants met review inclusion. Therapeutic Advances: Meta-analysis of 15 trials found that ivermectin reduced risk of death compared with no ivermectin (average risk ratio 0.38, 95% confidence interval 0.19–0.73; n = 2438; I2 = 49%; moderate-certainty evidence). This result was confirmed in a trial sequential analysis using the same DerSimonian–Laird method that underpinned the unadjusted analysis. This was also robust against a trial sequential analysis using the Biggerstaff–Tweedie method. Low-certainty evidence found that ivermectin prophylaxis reduced COVID-19 infection by an average 86% (95% confidence interval 79%–91%). Secondary outcomes provided less certain evidence. Low-certainty evidence suggested that there may be no benefit with ivermectin for “need for mechanical ventilation,” whereas effect estimates for “improvement” and “deterioration” clearly favored ivermectin use. Severe adverse events were rare among treatment trials and evidence of no difference was assessed as low certainty. Evidence on other secondary outcomes was very low certainty. Conclusions: Moderate-certainty evidence finds that large reductions in COVID-19 deaths are possible using ivermectin. Using ivermectin early in the clinical course may reduce numbers progressing to severe disease. The apparent safety and low cost suggest that ivermectin is likely to have a significant impact on the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic globally.
Indian/Delta variant has completely overtaken all other variants in the UK. https://www.gov.uk/government/news/confirmed-cases-of-covid-19-variants-identified-in-uk Delta variant cases continue to rise PHE’s weekly COVID-19 variant cases data show that numbers of the Delta (VOC-21APR-02) variant in the UK have risen by 33,630 since last week to a total of 75,953. The most recent data show 99% of sequenced and genotyped cases across the country are the Delta variant. Data show an increased risk of hospitalisation with Delta compared to Alpha, although PHE’s analysis shows that 2 doses of vaccine gives a high degree of protection against hospitalisation, estimated to be more than 90%. According to PHE’s latest variant technical briefing, as of 14 June, a total of 806 people have been hospitalised with the Delta variant, an increase of 423 since last week. Of these, 527 were unvaccinated, and only 84 of the 806 had received both doses. PHE now publishes the number of deaths among people who have tested positive for Delta within the past 28 days. The case fatality rate remains low for Delta. However, deaths tend to happen some weeks after infection and the majority of cases were confirmed less than 28 days ago. It is therefore too early to judge the case fatality of Delta compared to Alpha or other variants.
Link for the documented side effects for the mRNA's? I could kind of agree with you on the J&J, though the % of people experiencing the adverse effects still seems smaller than a lot of other medications that people don't worry about (e.g. birth control pills).
Why? The WHO is focused on the world as a whole - while Moderna/Pfizer seem effective at preventing transmission of the variants, Astrozeneca, J&J, etc don't seem to have the 95% effectiveness rate (let alone the Russia and China vaccines). Much of the world is stuck with all those other vaccines. Take a look at the UK chart, for example - they are well-vaccinated (mostly Astrozeneca) and largely had this under control until the new variant took over: https://www.worldometers.info/coronavirus/country/uk/
