Covid-19 Pandemic

[nitflegal]

1 hour ago, Ivanhoe said:

Question for nitflegal;

with the menace of clotting in latter stages of COVID infection, and also in response to vaccines (however low the probability may be), are clinicians and researchers taking a hard look at real-time detection and treatment?

If there is to be a silver lining to the COVID cloud, it seems like the standard of care for in-patient treatment needs to be dragged kicking and screaming into the 21st century. For example, use a national-level database of CBC data and machine learning to develop a prediction model for clotting. I.e. clinician orders CBC, vials go to lab, data upload into EMR system and predictor system, predictor system presents estimate of clotting probability and recommendation for theraputics given Px history & overall condition. Tighten the OODA loop way down.

 

I can't speak to the clinicians but the researchers are.  In many ways these vaccines are a beta test for an entire novel platform and there is intense interest and oversight from the companies themselves.  We basically advanced this technology a decade in the last year and these mRNA vaccines may crack some holy grails for vaccines (malaria, HIV, common cold, etc.).  Thus the intense interest in monitoring these for any lessons to be learned before cracking on those vaccine programs.

[bojan]

20 hours ago, Ivanhoe said:

That pickle looks like it consorted with a woman of ill repute. Making the vodka a sanitization thing.

Not hybridized to hell and back.

Edited April 24, 2021 by bojan

[Ivanhoe]

42 minutes ago, bojan said:

Not hybridized to hell and back.

I'll have to take your word for it, I've never tried to grow pickles.

 

[Ivanhoe]

52 minutes ago, nitflegal said:

I can't speak to the clinicians but the researchers are.  In many ways these vaccines are a beta test for an entire novel platform and there is intense interest and oversight from the companies themselves.  We basically advanced this technology a decade in the last year and these mRNA vaccines may crack some holy grails for vaccines (malaria, HIV, common cold, etc.).  Thus the intense interest in monitoring these for any lessons to be learned before cracking on those vaccine programs.

But what about theraputic methods vice vaccination?

Vaccines are great, but the next time there's a lab escape, IMHO it'll be 6 months of unnecessary deaths while waiting for a vaccine. Or even 3 months. There are always those who won't or can't take the vax shot.

[Mistral]

If anyone has the free time, go back and read the first 10 pages of this thread.  A lot of predictions / statements of fact were made in those 10 pages...

who knows people might learn something.

[nitflegal]

4 hours ago, Ivanhoe said:

But what about theraputic methods vice vaccination?

Vaccines are great, but the next time there's a lab escape, IMHO it'll be 6 months of unnecessary deaths while waiting for a vaccine. Or even 3 months. There are always those who won't or can't take the vax shot.

We've learned a fair amount there as well.  It's why Covid deaths decreased even as cases increased in the fall into winter.  Hell, hydroxychloroquine which was some sort of gaffe by Trump is now part of the standard.  If we were honest, the biggest lesson is one we already new about respiratory viruses which is be outside, don't be fat, have high amounts of Vitamin D.  I doubt we'll see any national efforts to lose weight and get exercise which is unfortunate as those two things would have reduced fatality rates significantly.  As to the treatments, if the vaccines work as they seem to be there won't be a significant market so it will need to be pumped with government money.  Unfortunately I have little doubt it will go to academia and NIH in the US which both suck at creating drugs cost effectively so we will get a fraction of the outcomes per dollar that we would if it went to private industry.  

[Ivanhoe]

https://www.americanthinker.com/articles/2021/04/examining_the_relationship_between_covid_death_rates_and_population_density.html

Quote

There is no tendency for the more densely populated ZIP code areas to have higher COVID death rates.  Furthermore, their death rates fall in a range similar to that of the other four boroughs — even though those boroughs have average population densities many times higher than Staten Island's.

Analysis of COVID deaths in metro NYC categorized by borough.

[BansheeOne]

Quote

EU sues AstraZeneca over delayed deliveries of COVID-19 vaccine

3h ago

The European Commission says it has launched legal action against the UK-Swedish company AstraZeneca for not keeping to its contract for the supply of COVID-19 vaccines.

The European Commission said on Monday that it was taking the pharmaceutical company AstraZeneca to court for breach of contract after a number of delays in supplying COVID-19 vaccines to the bloc.

"The commission has started last Friday a legal action against AstraZeneca," a spokesperson told a news conference, adding that all 27 EU states backed the move.

"Some terms of the contract have not been respected, and the company has not been in a position to come up with a reliable strategy to ensure timely delivery of doses," the spokesperson said.

But one EU diplomat warned that move could have "a chilling effect" on investment in Europe's drug industry in the future.

"Ultimately, a court case is not going to speed up getting jabs into arms," said one ambassador with close ties to Paris and Berlin, adding the legal challenge "could take years."

What is the EU's stance on AstraZeneca?

Germany, France and Hungary were among EU states that were initially reticent to sue the company, mostly on the grounds that the move might not speed up deliveries, diplomats said, but eventually they supported it.

The announcement comes as commission president Ursula von der Leyen suggested earlier this month to never do business again with AstraZeneca for its future vaccination campaigns.

[...] 

Another senior EU source said: "It would be better to write off AstraZeneca altogether for now and build a vaccine portfolio around other EU-approved jabs."

What complaints is AstraZeneca facing?

When signing the contract with the EU, AstraZeneca committed to make its "best reasonable efforts" to deliver 180 million vaccine doses to the bloc in the second quarter of this year, making up a total of 300 million in the period from December to June. Last month, however, AstraZeneca said it would aim to deliver only one-third of that.

Brussels has been particularly angered by the fact that that the supply of AstraZeneca shots to the United Kingdom remained unaffected amid all production hiccups claimed by the company, although purchase contracts from the bloc and Britain both dated from August 2020.

The EU has repeatedly clashed with the firm in recent months and has been trying to compensate delivery shortfalls by ordering more from other manufacturers. Recently, the bloc decided not to exercise its options for another 300 million doses from AstraZeneca amid evidence of very rare blood clot side effects.

What does AstraZeneca say?

The vaccine producer on Monday said that there was no legal foundation to the lawsuit against it and that it regretted the decision by the European Commission.

"AstraZeneca has fully complied with the Advance Purchase Agreement with the European Commission and will strongly defend itself in court. We believe any litigation is without merit, and we welcome this opportunity to resolve this dispute as soon as possible," the company said in a statement.

[...] 

https://m.dw.com/en/eu-sues-astrazeneca-over-delayed-deliveries-of-covid-19-vaccine/a-57338626

[Daan]

Here in the Netherlands people have become so scared of the AZ vaccination that a GP had to throw unused, but prepared syringes with the product away when only a small number of patients turned up last week:

 

[nitflegal]

The part that I am looking forward to is 3-5 years from now when someone goes on Oprah or MSNBC and suggests that the vaccine caused their autistic kid/cancer/low libido/etc. and looks for sueable targets other than the companies.  I also am half expecting the government in that instance to have a case of the "do-overs" and try and find a way where the pharma companies did some nebulous nefarious crap and it voids the agreement that they couldn't be liable.

[Ivanhoe]

 

[Ivanhoe]

 

[DB]

Some statistically significant estimates for the effectiveness of vaccination at cutting transmission rates.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-56904993

Not a particularly easy metric to measure conclusively - only likely possible in a country with high levels of monitoring.

Meanwhile, the UK has provided at least one vaccination to over 50% of the population now. (actually 33.8 million as of yesterday).

[TrustMe]

I go for my second dose tomorrow, lets hope it works 😐

[bojan]

On 4/24/2021 at 9:50 PM, Ivanhoe said:

I'll have to take your word for it, I've never tried to grow pickles.

 

Cucumbers are relates to cactus, and ridges are where thorn clusters were previously. On some of cucumbers still have vestigial "hairs" or "thorns" still remaining:

Since those are a "bit uncomfortable" to eat, and people are generally yucky toward spiked things cucumbers are hybridized to eliminate it. Unfortunately such hybridization usually kills flavor also.

Grandmother had a vegetable garden when I was a kid, so I picked a thing or two.

Edited April 28, 2021 by bojan

[Harold Jones]

I grow cucumbers every year, I have a 3 gallon crock that I use to make fermented pickles. Once that's full I make various brined pickles.  I mostly eat my cucumber pickles fresh, but I do can a few pints of bread and butter pickles and pickled beets every year.

[DB]

I have no comments to make, but people should take the time to watch this.

It's a UK doctor and youtuber who discusses the current state in India.

 

[Adam Peter]

What one can expect from a right-wing, commie at heart populist government

 

Data of covid illness an death after the second shot, between 2020-12-26 and 2021-04-20.

Column group 1 : Events after immunization

Column group 2: got ill / died

Column group 3 absolute number / per 100K vaxxed / absolute number / per 100K vaxxed

Our dear leader moved the goalposts to "measurement of success is the number of the vaxxed people".

Numbers they successfully provided here says vaxxed people is more probable to die in covid than un-vaxxed people. Conspirationists, rejoice!

Data here shows that Eastern vaxx is far better than Western vaxx.

Hence they reserved Pfizer for the children under 18, and flash-vaxxed the pregnant with Pfizer and Moderna. Because He loves His people.

Contraselected retards.

[Ivanhoe]

[Harold Jones]

9 hours ago, DB said:

I have no comments to make, but people should take the time to watch this.

It's a UK doctor and youtuber who discusses the current state in India.

 

Yeah its a mess over there. A coworker just found out today that her aunt and grandmother died within hours of each other. I have some staff there and they are blaming the current government and also mixing in some conspiracy theories.

[Detonable]

  The Pfizer vaccine seems to have a lot of events. I wonder why that is? It isn’t the one that has been paused. 
 

  Also, where is the vaccine being made and where is it being distributed? I thought some of the vaccines were primarily reserved for the US market for now. 
 

  Took my son to a mass vaccination site in Maryland yesterday. No lines, large numbers of nurses with nobody to inject. The same facility was packed 6 weeks ago. I wonder if large numbers of people are not interested in getting vaccinated? I think the country is only about 1/2 vaccinated. 

[Ivanhoe]

2 hours ago, Detonable said:

    Took my son to a mass vaccination site in Maryland yesterday. No lines, large numbers of nurses with nobody to inject. The same facility was packed 6 weeks ago. I wonder if large numbers of people are not interested in getting vaccinated? I think the country is only about 1/2 vaccinated. 

I suspect that roughly half the unvaxxed have given up trying to get a shot. Poor working class people don't want to take time off of work and risk getting fired to go stand in line for what used to be an iffy chance at a shot.

In my AO, they've done a terrible job broadcasting the date/time/location of mass vaxx sites. A single working mom during hourly labor in an employee-unfriendly company has essentially no shot at a shot at this time. When the J&J shot becomes widely available at neightborhood pharmacies in vast numbers, that is when a lot of folks will get the shot.

Of course, maybe 25% of the population are anti-COVID-vaxx, of whom I think half are anti-vaxx in general. The other half just doesn't trust the rushed & politicized vaccines currently being used. 

 

 

 

[Stefan Fredriksson]

When offered vaccine at job a while back, suggestions whether to take it or not varied depending if you had (recent) antibodies or not. I declined then. Took a Moderna today.

[Stuart Galbraith]

How you feeling Sfefan?

[Ivanhoe]

2 hours ago, Stefan Fredriksson said:

When offered vaccine at job a while back, suggestions whether to take it or not varied depending if you had (recent) antibodies or not. I declined then. Took a Moderna today.

An indication of how topsy-turvy the world is now, large employers that used to offer free on-site flu shots for their employees have strenuously avoided even talking about doing so for COVID shots (excepting health care providers, of course). In my AO, public schools arranged for teachers to get a vaxx appt with a local hospital system, and I guess the time spent getting the shot is work time. But overall, people are kinda on their own. Other than that, no linkage between employment and access to the shot.

Now that I think about it, my employer requires a daily infection report, but doesn't want to hear about vaccination status at all. Back when the lockdowns began, they asked folks in an elevated risk category to report such.