Almost 6 months to the day, our oldest son came down with Covid last week. He is the only one who didn't get it back in April when the rest of us had it. Rough first couple days and then mostly just stuffy and runny nose. None of us got sick or even had symptoms. Tested negative 2x since he tested positive. A weird situation for sure.
Similar for us. My quarantine ended today. Days 3-6 were pretty bad, but after that it was like a bad head cold. No one in our house had it before but we are fully vaxed. I had Pfizer vaccine and my wife Moderna. She never got it. Was a little surprised because we shared a bed at least 2 days before I realized it was Covid and quarantined.
The kids are too little for the vaccine, but they tested negative twice this week.
That's good.
Unfortunately my 88 year old mother contracted it in her nursing home last week. She was due for her booster this week. She had no symptoms and then out of the blue last night her BP shot up. She was taken to the hospital and she was diagnosed with early pneumonia. They are treating that and keeping her.
Oh man sorry to hear wishing her a full recovery my thoughts are with you!
Thanks to everyone. She was released this morning. Still positive but BP and pneumonia are good.
Almost 6 months to the day, our oldest son came down with Covid last week. He is the only one who didn't get it back in April when the rest of us had it. Rough first couple days and then mostly just stuffy and runny nose. None of us got sick or even had symptoms. Tested negative 2x since he tested positive. A weird situation for sure.
Similar for us. My quarantine ended today. Days 3-6 were pretty bad, but after that it was like a bad head cold. No one in our house had it before but we are fully vaxed. I had Pfizer vaccine and my wife Moderna. She never got it. Was a little surprised because we shared a bed at least 2 days before I realized it was Covid and quarantined.
The kids are too little for the vaccine, but they tested negative twice this week.
That's good.
Unfortunately my 88 year old mother contracted it in her nursing home last week. She was due for her booster this week. She had no symptoms and then out of the blue last night her BP shot up. She was taken to the hospital and she was diagnosed with early pneumonia. They are treating that and keeping her.
Oh man sorry to hear wishing her a full recovery my thoughts are with you!
Thanks to everyone. She was released this morning. Still positive but BP and pneumonia are good.
Almost 6 months to the day, our oldest son came down with Covid last week. He is the only one who didn't get it back in April when the rest of us had it. Rough first couple days and then mostly just stuffy and runny nose. None of us got sick or even had symptoms. Tested negative 2x since he tested positive. A weird situation for sure.
Similar for us. My quarantine ended today. Days 3-6 were pretty bad, but after that it was like a bad head cold. No one in our house had it before but we are fully vaxed. I had Pfizer vaccine and my wife Moderna. She never got it. Was a little surprised because we shared a bed at least 2 days before I realized it was Covid and quarantined.
The kids are too little for the vaccine, but they tested negative twice this week.
That's good.
Unfortunately my 88 year old mother contracted it in her nursing home last week. She was due for her booster this week. She had no symptoms and then out of the blue last night her BP shot up. She was taken to the hospital and she was diagnosed with early pneumonia. They are treating that and keeping her.
Oh man sorry to hear wishing her a full recovery my thoughts are with you!
Thanks to everyone. She was released this morning. Still positive but BP and pneumonia are good.
That is great news! So happy for you and your family as well. tbergs and mace, hope all is going well for your families too!
Almost 6 months to the day, our oldest son came down with Covid last week. He is the only one who didn't get it back in April when the rest of us had it. Rough first couple days and then mostly just stuffy and runny nose. None of us got sick or even had symptoms. Tested negative 2x since he tested positive. A weird situation for sure.
Similar for us. My quarantine ended today. Days 3-6 were pretty bad, but after that it was like a bad head cold. No one in our house had it before but we are fully vaxed. I had Pfizer vaccine and my wife Moderna. She never got it. Was a little surprised because we shared a bed at least 2 days before I realized it was Covid and quarantined.
The kids are too little for the vaccine, but they tested negative twice this week.
That's good.
Unfortunately my 88 year old mother contracted it in her nursing home last week. She was due for her booster this week. She had no symptoms and then out of the blue last night her BP shot up. She was taken to the hospital and she was diagnosed with early pneumonia. They are treating that and keeping her.
Oh man sorry to hear wishing her a full recovery my thoughts are with you!
Thanks to everyone. She was released this morning. Still positive but BP and pneumonia are good.
That is great news! So happy for you and your family as well. tbergs and mace, hope all is going well for your families too!
Thank you. Been out of quarantine 3 days now. Still a lot of congestion, I heard that can last for weeks, but other than that doing well and no one else in the house got it. my smell and taste is starting to come back too. I wasn’t able to eat anything with a lot of salt or bacon, because all I could taste was salt.
Almost 6 months to the day, our oldest son came down with Covid last week. He is the only one who didn't get it back in April when the rest of us had it. Rough first couple days and then mostly just stuffy and runny nose. None of us got sick or even had symptoms. Tested negative 2x since he tested positive. A weird situation for sure.
Similar for us. My quarantine ended today. Days 3-6 were pretty bad, but after that it was like a bad head cold. No one in our house had it before but we are fully vaxed. I had Pfizer vaccine and my wife Moderna. She never got it. Was a little surprised because we shared a bed at least 2 days before I realized it was Covid and quarantined.
The kids are too little for the vaccine, but they tested negative twice this week.
That's good.
Unfortunately my 88 year old mother contracted it in her nursing home last week. She was due for her booster this week. She had no symptoms and then out of the blue last night her BP shot up. She was taken to the hospital and she was diagnosed with early pneumonia. They are treating that and keeping her.
Oh man sorry to hear wishing her a full recovery my thoughts are with you!
Thanks to everyone. She was released this morning. Still positive but BP and pneumonia are good.
That is great news! So happy for you and your family as well. tbergs and mace, hope all is going well for your families too!
Thank you. Been out of quarantine 3 days now. Still a lot of congestion, I heard that can last for weeks, but other than that doing well and no one else in the house got it. my smell and taste is starting to come back too. I wasn’t able to eat anything with a lot of salt or bacon, because all I could taste was salt.
Hope you bounce back 100%, and more sooner than later. I’m sure I speak for plenty of people when I say long covid is my biggest concern (besides, you know… death). I can handle being unwell for a few days or even weeks, but months? Yikes.
Hope the best for anyone dealing with this in their immediate family right now.
Almost 6 months to the day, our oldest son came down with Covid last week. He is the only one who didn't get it back in April when the rest of us had it. Rough first couple days and then mostly just stuffy and runny nose. None of us got sick or even had symptoms. Tested negative 2x since he tested positive. A weird situation for sure.
Similar for us. My quarantine ended today. Days 3-6 were pretty bad, but after that it was like a bad head cold. No one in our house had it before but we are fully vaxed. I had Pfizer vaccine and my wife Moderna. She never got it. Was a little surprised because we shared a bed at least 2 days before I realized it was Covid and quarantined.
The kids are too little for the vaccine, but they tested negative twice this week.
That's good.
Unfortunately my 88 year old mother contracted it in her nursing home last week. She was due for her booster this week. She had no symptoms and then out of the blue last night her BP shot up. She was taken to the hospital and she was diagnosed with early pneumonia. They are treating that and keeping her.
Oh man sorry to hear wishing her a full recovery my thoughts are with you!
Thanks to everyone. She was released this morning. Still positive but BP and pneumonia are good.
Almost 6 months to the day, our oldest son came down with Covid last week. He is the only one who didn't get it back in April when the rest of us had it. Rough first couple days and then mostly just stuffy and runny nose. None of us got sick or even had symptoms. Tested negative 2x since he tested positive. A weird situation for sure.
Similar for us. My quarantine ended today. Days 3-6 were pretty bad, but after that it was like a bad head cold. No one in our house had it before but we are fully vaxed. I had Pfizer vaccine and my wife Moderna. She never got it. Was a little surprised because we shared a bed at least 2 days before I realized it was Covid and quarantined.
The kids are too little for the vaccine, but they tested negative twice this week.
That's good.
Unfortunately my 88 year old mother contracted it in her nursing home last week. She was due for her booster this week. She had no symptoms and then out of the blue last night her BP shot up. She was taken to the hospital and she was diagnosed with early pneumonia. They are treating that and keeping her.
Oh man sorry to hear wishing her a full recovery my thoughts are with you!
Thanks to everyone. She was released this morning. Still positive but BP and pneumonia are good.
That is great news! So happy for you and your family as well. tbergs and mace, hope all is going well for your families too!
Thank you. Been out of quarantine 3 days now. Still a lot of congestion, I heard that can last for weeks, but other than that doing well and no one else in the house got it. my smell and taste is starting to come back too. I wasn’t able to eat anything with a lot of salt or bacon, because all I could taste was salt.
I know this is illegal but hope your brother is doing well and happy with his decision to leave the police force, if he actually did of course.
Almost 6 months to the day, our oldest son came down with Covid last week. He is the only one who didn't get it back in April when the rest of us had it. Rough first couple days and then mostly just stuffy and runny nose. None of us got sick or even had symptoms. Tested negative 2x since he tested positive. A weird situation for sure.
Similar for us. My quarantine ended today. Days 3-6 were pretty bad, but after that it was like a bad head cold. No one in our house had it before but we are fully vaxed. I had Pfizer vaccine and my wife Moderna. She never got it. Was a little surprised because we shared a bed at least 2 days before I realized it was Covid and quarantined.
The kids are too little for the vaccine, but they tested negative twice this week.
That's good.
Unfortunately my 88 year old mother contracted it in her nursing home last week. She was due for her booster this week. She had no symptoms and then out of the blue last night her BP shot up. She was taken to the hospital and she was diagnosed with early pneumonia. They are treating that and keeping her.
Oh man sorry to hear wishing her a full recovery my thoughts are with you!
Thanks to everyone. She was released this morning. Still positive but BP and pneumonia are good.
That is great news! So happy for you and your family as well. tbergs and mace, hope all is going well for your families too!
Thank you. Been out of quarantine 3 days now. Still a lot of congestion, I heard that can last for weeks, but other than that doing well and no one else in the house got it. my smell and taste is starting to come back too. I wasn’t able to eat anything with a lot of salt or bacon, because all I could taste was salt.
I know this is illegal but hope your brother is doing well and happy with his decision to leave the police force, if he actually did of course.
He sort of did. He left his department and moved out of state to a small town with low crime and joined that department. He had to cash in his retirement early at a big loss and start over and take a salary half what he had, but he’s happy he did.
Not today Sir, Probably not tomorrow.............................................. bayfront arena st. pete '94
you're finally here and I'm a mess................................................... nationwide arena columbus '10
memories like fingerprints are slowly raising.................................... first niagara center buffalo '13
another man ..... moved by sleight of hand...................................... joe louis arena detroit '14
As 2020 wound down, there
were good reasons to believe that the death toll during the pandemic’s first
year might have been worse in red America. There were also good reasons to
think it might have been worse in blue America.
Conservative areas tend to
be older, less prosperous and more hostile to mask wearing, all of which can
exacerbate the spread or severity of Covid-19. Liberal areas, for their part,
are home both to more busy international airports and more Americans who
suffer the health consequences of racial discrimination.
But it turned out that
these differences largely offset each other in 2020 — or maybe they didn’t
matter as much as some people assumed. Either way, the per capita death toll
in blue America and red America was similar by the final weeks of 2020.
It was only a few
percentage points higher in counties where Donald Trump had won at least 60
percent of the vote than in counties where Joe Biden crossed that threshold.
In counties where neither candidate won 60 percent, the death toll was higher
than in either Trump or Biden counties. There simply was not a strong
partisan pattern to Covid during the first year that it was circulating in
the U.S.
Then the vaccines arrived.
They proved so powerful,
and the partisan attitudes toward them so different, that a gap in Covid’s
death toll quickly emerged. I have covered that gap in two newsletters — one this summer, one
last month — and
today’s newsletter offers an update.
The brief version: The gap
in Covid’s death toll between red and blue America has grown faster over the
past month than at any previous point.
In October, 25 out of every
100,000 residents of heavily Trump counties died from Covid, more than three
times higher than the rate in heavily Biden counties (7.8 per 100,000).
October was the fifth consecutive month that the percentage gap between the
death rates in Trump counties and Biden counties widened.
Data unavailable for Alaska and Washington, D.C.Source: New York Times database, Edison
Research
Some conservative writers
have tried to claim that the gap may stem from regional differences in weather or age,
but those arguments fall apart under
scrutiny. (If weather or age were a major reason, the pattern would have
begun to appear last year.) The true explanation is straightforward: The
vaccines are remarkably effective at preventing severe Covid, and almost 40
percent of Republican adults remain unvaccinated,
compared with about 10 percent of Democratic adults.
Charles Gaba, a Democratic
health care analyst, has pointed out that
the gap is also evident at finer gradations of political analysis: Counties
where Trump received at least 70 percent of the vote have an even higher
average Covid death toll than counties where Trump won at least 60 percent.
As a result, Covid deaths
have been concentrated in counties outside of major metropolitan areas. Many
of these are in red states, while others are in red parts of blue or purple
states, like Arizona, Michigan, Nevada, New Mexico, Pennsylvania, Oregon,
Virginia and even California.
Data as of Nov. 3.Source: New York Times database
This situation is a
tragedy, in which irrational fears about vaccine side effects have
overwhelmed rational fears about a deadly virus. It stems from disinformation
— promoted by right-wing media, like Rupert Murdoch’s Fox News, the Sinclair
Broadcast Group and online sources — that preys on the distrust that results
from stagnant living standards.
A peak?
The future of Covid is
uncertain, but I do think it’s possible that the partisan gap in Covid deaths
reached its peak last month. There are two main reasons to expect the gap may
soon shrink.
One, the new antiviral
treatments from Pfizer and Merck seem likely to reduce Covid
deaths everywhere, and especially in the places where they are most common.
These treatments, along with the vaccines, may eventually turn this
coronavirus into just another manageable virus.
Two, red America has
probably built up more natural immunity to Covid — from prior infections —
than blue America, because the hostility to vaccination and social distancing
has caused the virus to spread more widely. A buildup in natural immunity may
be one reason that the partisan gap in new Covid cases has shrunk recently.
Data unavailable for Alaska and Washington D.C.Source: New York Times database, Edison
Research
Death trends tend to lag
case trends by a few weeks, which suggests the gap in deaths will shrink in
November.
Still, nobody knows what
will happen next. Much of the recent decline in caseloads is mysterious,
which means it may not last. And the immunity from vaccination appears to be much stronger
than the immunity from infection, which means that conservative Americans
will probably continue to suffer an outsized amount of unnecessary illness
and death.
Not today Sir, Probably not tomorrow.............................................. bayfront arena st. pete '94
you're finally here and I'm a mess................................................... nationwide arena columbus '10
memories like fingerprints are slowly raising.................................... first niagara center buffalo '13
another man ..... moved by sleight of hand...................................... joe louis arena detroit '14
I finally had a Covid-19 test. My work is supplying at-home tests for us to take twice a week so that we can rawjaw it around the hallways when we go in (at least) once a week.
It wasn't so bad. I do want a booster before I start riding public transit regularly again.
I finally had a Covid-19 test. My work is supplying at-home tests for us to take twice a week so that we can rawjaw it around the hallways when we go in (at least) once a week.
It wasn't so bad. I do want a booster before I start riding public transit regularly again.
Finally rode the train after not for a year or so. It was empty. Most people are driving to work rather than mass transit commuting.
I finally had a Covid-19 test. My work is supplying at-home tests for us to take twice a week so that we can rawjaw it around the hallways when we go in (at least) once a week.
It wasn't so bad. I do want a booster before I start riding public transit regularly again.
Never underestimate the lengths people will go to in order to rawjaw.
0
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mickeyrat
up my ass, like Chadwick was up his Posts: 35,880
I finally had a Covid-19 test. My work is supplying at-home tests for us to take twice a week so that we can rawjaw it around the hallways when we go in (at least) once a week.
It wasn't so bad. I do want a booster before I start riding public transit regularly again.
Never underestimate the lengths people will go to in order to rawjaw.
Not today Sir, Probably not tomorrow.............................................. bayfront arena st. pete '94
you're finally here and I'm a mess................................................... nationwide arena columbus '10
memories like fingerprints are slowly raising.................................... first niagara center buffalo '13
another man ..... moved by sleight of hand...................................... joe louis arena detroit '14
A person on the outer rim of my family system died of Covid Sunday morning. He was unvaccinated. I share this not for sympathy nor condolence. I share this to encourage all to get the shot. The vaccine saves lives.
my best friend's aunt passed away today from covid. i've known her for over 40 years. she was vaccinated, caught a breakthrough case and 5 days later she is gone. she had some underlying health issues, but she just couldn't overcome it.
There is nothing noble in being superior to your fellow man; true nobility is being superior to your former self.- Hemingway
"Well, you tell him that I don't talk to suckas."
0
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mickeyrat
up my ass, like Chadwick was up his Posts: 35,880
Pfizer asks FDA to OK COVID-19 booster shots for all adults
By LAURAN NEERGAARD
Just now
Pfizer asked U.S. regulators Tuesday to allow boosters of its COVID-19 vaccine for anyone 18 or older, a step that comes amid concern about increased spread of the coronavirus with holiday travel and gatherings.
Older Americans and other groups particularly vulnerable to the virus have had access to a third dose of the Pfizer and BioNTech vaccine since September. But the Food and Drug Administration has said it would move quickly to expand boosters to younger ages if warranted.
Pfizer is submitting early results of a booster study in 10,000 people to make its case that it’s time to further expand the booster campaign.
While all three vaccines used in the U.S. continue to offer strong protection against severe COVID-19 illness and death, the shots’ effectiveness against milder infection can wane over time.
Pfizer’s new study concluded a booster could restore protection against symptomatic infection to about 95%, even as the extra-contagious delta variant was surging. Side effects were similar to those seen with the company’s first two shots.
A median of 11 months after their last Pfizer vaccination, trial participants were given either a third dose or a dummy shot. Researchers tracked any infections that occurred at least a week later, and so far have counted five cases of symptomatic COVID-19 among booster recipients compared to 109 cases among people who got dummy shots.
The Biden administration had originally envisioned boosters for all adults, but faced a stinging setback in September when the FDA’s scientific advisers rejected extra Pfizer doses for everyone. The panel wasn’t convinced that young healthy people needed another dose, particularly when most of the world’s population remains unvaccinated, and instead recommended boosters just for certain groups — one of a series of decisions about extra doses for all of the three vaccines used in the U.S.
The current rules: People who initially received Pfizer or Moderna vaccinations are eligible for a booster six months later if they’re 65 or older, or are at high risk of COVID-19 because of health problems or their job or living conditions. Because the single-dose Johnson & Johnson vaccine hasn’t proven as effective as its two-dose competitors, any J&J recipient can get a booster at least two months later.
Also, anyone eligible for a booster doesn’t have to stick with their initial vaccination type and can get a different company’s vaccine, what’s called mixing and matching.
About 194 million Americans are fully vaccinated. Under today's policies, authorities already estimated about 2 of every 3 vaccinated adults could qualify for a booster within the next few months. Many who don't meet the criteria often score an extra shot because many vaccine providers don't check qualifications.
FDA spokeswoman Alison Hunt said the agency would review Pfizer’s application “as expeditiously as possible,” but would not set a timeline for a decision. She also said the FDA hasn’t yet decided whether to convene its panel of outside experts to vet the data.
If the FDA authorizes Pfizer's request for expanded boosters, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention then will make recommendations for how to use them.
Globally, boosters also are a hodge-podge. Some countries restrict them to older or medically fragile people while others have few restrictions. Israel, for example, has allowed Pfizer boosters for anyone 12 and older. Canada's health regulator on Tuesday authorized Pfizer boosters for people 18 and older.
___
AP Health Writer Matthew Perrone contributed to this report.
___
The Associated Press Health and Science Department receives support from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute’s Department of Science Education. The AP is solely responsible for all content.
Not today Sir, Probably not tomorrow.............................................. bayfront arena st. pete '94
you're finally here and I'm a mess................................................... nationwide arena columbus '10
memories like fingerprints are slowly raising.................................... first niagara center buffalo '13
another man ..... moved by sleight of hand...................................... joe louis arena detroit '14
My sister got her booster today. She works in healthcare. She had some fairly nasty side effects from her second shot so I am curious to see how she does with the booster. I had very mild side effects from my vaccine. It’s so weird how it hits people differently.
my best friend's aunt passed away today from covid. i've known her for over 40 years. she was vaccinated, caught a breakthrough case and 5 days later she is gone. she had some underlying health issues, but she just couldn't overcome it.
That's terrible. Was she elderly?
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mickeyrat
up my ass, like Chadwick was up his Posts: 35,880
My sister got her booster today. She works in healthcare. She had some fairly nasty side effects from her second shot so I am curious to see how she does with the booster. I had very mild side effects from my vaccine. It’s so weird how it hits people differently.
makes me wonder if how the vaccine affects you if you would get a similar experience contracting covid?
Not today Sir, Probably not tomorrow.............................................. bayfront arena st. pete '94
you're finally here and I'm a mess................................................... nationwide arena columbus '10
memories like fingerprints are slowly raising.................................... first niagara center buffalo '13
another man ..... moved by sleight of hand...................................... joe louis arena detroit '14
my best friend's aunt passed away today from covid. i've known her for over 40 years. she was vaccinated, caught a breakthrough case and 5 days later she is gone. she had some underlying health issues, but she just couldn't overcome it.
I am sorry for your loss. That is terrible. I hope you and your friend are doing ok.
Comments
my smell and taste is starting to come back too. I wasn’t able to eat anything with a lot of salt or bacon, because all I could taste was salt.
Hope the best for anyone dealing with this in their immediate family right now.
That news made me happy! Yay!!
5 cents please
Not today Sir, Probably not tomorrow.............................................. bayfront arena st. pete '94
you're finally here and I'm a mess................................................... nationwide arena columbus '10
memories like fingerprints are slowly raising.................................... first niagara center buffalo '13
another man ..... moved by sleight of hand...................................... joe louis arena detroit '14
Even redder
As 2020 wound down, there were good reasons to believe that the death toll during the pandemic’s first year might have been worse in red America. There were also good reasons to think it might have been worse in blue America.
Conservative areas tend to be older, less prosperous and more hostile to mask wearing, all of which can exacerbate the spread or severity of Covid-19. Liberal areas, for their part, are home both to more busy international airports and more Americans who suffer the health consequences of racial discrimination.
But it turned out that these differences largely offset each other in 2020 — or maybe they didn’t matter as much as some people assumed. Either way, the per capita death toll in blue America and red America was similar by the final weeks of 2020.
It was only a few percentage points higher in counties where Donald Trump had won at least 60 percent of the vote than in counties where Joe Biden crossed that threshold. In counties where neither candidate won 60 percent, the death toll was higher than in either Trump or Biden counties. There simply was not a strong partisan pattern to Covid during the first year that it was circulating in the U.S.
Then the vaccines arrived.
They proved so powerful, and the partisan attitudes toward them so different, that a gap in Covid’s death toll quickly emerged. I have covered that gap in two newsletters — one this summer, one last month — and today’s newsletter offers an update.
The brief version: The gap in Covid’s death toll between red and blue America has grown faster over the past month than at any previous point.
In October, 25 out of every 100,000 residents of heavily Trump counties died from Covid, more than three times higher than the rate in heavily Biden counties (7.8 per 100,000). October was the fifth consecutive month that the percentage gap between the death rates in Trump counties and Biden counties widened.
Some conservative writers have tried to claim that the gap may stem from regional differences in weather or age, but those arguments fall apart under scrutiny. (If weather or age were a major reason, the pattern would have begun to appear last year.) The true explanation is straightforward: The vaccines are remarkably effective at preventing severe Covid, and almost 40 percent of Republican adults remain unvaccinated, compared with about 10 percent of Democratic adults.
Charles Gaba, a Democratic health care analyst, has pointed out that the gap is also evident at finer gradations of political analysis: Counties where Trump received at least 70 percent of the vote have an even higher average Covid death toll than counties where Trump won at least 60 percent.
As a result, Covid deaths have been concentrated in counties outside of major metropolitan areas. Many of these are in red states, while others are in red parts of blue or purple states, like Arizona, Michigan, Nevada, New Mexico, Pennsylvania, Oregon, Virginia and even California.
This situation is a tragedy, in which irrational fears about vaccine side effects have overwhelmed rational fears about a deadly virus. It stems from disinformation — promoted by right-wing media, like Rupert Murdoch’s Fox News, the Sinclair Broadcast Group and online sources — that preys on the distrust that results from stagnant living standards.
A peak?
The future of Covid is uncertain, but I do think it’s possible that the partisan gap in Covid deaths reached its peak last month. There are two main reasons to expect the gap may soon shrink.
One, the new antiviral treatments from Pfizer and Merck seem likely to reduce Covid deaths everywhere, and especially in the places where they are most common. These treatments, along with the vaccines, may eventually turn this coronavirus into just another manageable virus.
Two, red America has probably built up more natural immunity to Covid — from prior infections — than blue America, because the hostility to vaccination and social distancing has caused the virus to spread more widely. A buildup in natural immunity may be one reason that the partisan gap in new Covid cases has shrunk recently.
Death trends tend to lag case trends by a few weeks, which suggests the gap in deaths will shrink in November.
Still, nobody knows what will happen next. Much of the recent decline in caseloads is mysterious, which means it may not last. And the immunity from vaccination appears to be much stronger than the immunity from infection, which means that conservative Americans will probably continue to suffer an outsized amount of unnecessary illness and death.
right on rosanne.
Not today Sir, Probably not tomorrow.............................................. bayfront arena st. pete '94
you're finally here and I'm a mess................................................... nationwide arena columbus '10
memories like fingerprints are slowly raising.................................... first niagara center buffalo '13
another man ..... moved by sleight of hand...................................... joe louis arena detroit '14
It wasn't so bad. I do want a booster before I start riding public transit regularly again.
sounds dirty.
Not today Sir, Probably not tomorrow.............................................. bayfront arena st. pete '94
you're finally here and I'm a mess................................................... nationwide arena columbus '10
memories like fingerprints are slowly raising.................................... first niagara center buffalo '13
another man ..... moved by sleight of hand...................................... joe louis arena detroit '14
Border-town mayors call for end to Canada's COVID-19 test requirement for travellers
"Well, you tell him that I don't talk to suckas."
Pfizer asked U.S. regulators Tuesday to allow boosters of its COVID-19 vaccine for anyone 18 or older, a step that comes amid concern about increased spread of the coronavirus with holiday travel and gatherings.
Older Americans and other groups particularly vulnerable to the virus have had access to a third dose of the Pfizer and BioNTech vaccine since September. But the Food and Drug Administration has said it would move quickly to expand boosters to younger ages if warranted.
Pfizer is submitting early results of a booster study in 10,000 people to make its case that it’s time to further expand the booster campaign.
While all three vaccines used in the U.S. continue to offer strong protection against severe COVID-19 illness and death, the shots’ effectiveness against milder infection can wane over time.
Pfizer’s new study concluded a booster could restore protection against symptomatic infection to about 95%, even as the extra-contagious delta variant was surging. Side effects were similar to those seen with the company’s first two shots.
A median of 11 months after their last Pfizer vaccination, trial participants were given either a third dose or a dummy shot. Researchers tracked any infections that occurred at least a week later, and so far have counted five cases of symptomatic COVID-19 among booster recipients compared to 109 cases among people who got dummy shots.
The Biden administration had originally envisioned boosters for all adults, but faced a stinging setback in September when the FDA’s scientific advisers rejected extra Pfizer doses for everyone. The panel wasn’t convinced that young healthy people needed another dose, particularly when most of the world’s population remains unvaccinated, and instead recommended boosters just for certain groups — one of a series of decisions about extra doses for all of the three vaccines used in the U.S.
The current rules: People who initially received Pfizer or Moderna vaccinations are eligible for a booster six months later if they’re 65 or older, or are at high risk of COVID-19 because of health problems or their job or living conditions. Because the single-dose Johnson & Johnson vaccine hasn’t proven as effective as its two-dose competitors, any J&J recipient can get a booster at least two months later.
Also, anyone eligible for a booster doesn’t have to stick with their initial vaccination type and can get a different company’s vaccine, what’s called mixing and matching.
About 194 million Americans are fully vaccinated. Under today's policies, authorities already estimated about 2 of every 3 vaccinated adults could qualify for a booster within the next few months. Many who don't meet the criteria often score an extra shot because many vaccine providers don't check qualifications.
FDA spokeswoman Alison Hunt said the agency would review Pfizer’s application “as expeditiously as possible,” but would not set a timeline for a decision. She also said the FDA hasn’t yet decided whether to convene its panel of outside experts to vet the data.
If the FDA authorizes Pfizer's request for expanded boosters, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention then will make recommendations for how to use them.
Globally, boosters also are a hodge-podge. Some countries restrict them to older or medically fragile people while others have few restrictions. Israel, for example, has allowed Pfizer boosters for anyone 12 and older. Canada's health regulator on Tuesday authorized Pfizer boosters for people 18 and older.
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AP Health Writer Matthew Perrone contributed to this report.
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The Associated Press Health and Science Department receives support from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute’s Department of Science Education. The AP is solely responsible for all content.
Not today Sir, Probably not tomorrow.............................................. bayfront arena st. pete '94
you're finally here and I'm a mess................................................... nationwide arena columbus '10
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makes me wonder if how the vaccine affects you if you would get a similar experience contracting covid?
Not today Sir, Probably not tomorrow.............................................. bayfront arena st. pete '94
you're finally here and I'm a mess................................................... nationwide arena columbus '10
memories like fingerprints are slowly raising.................................... first niagara center buffalo '13
another man ..... moved by sleight of hand...................................... joe louis arena detroit '14