Viruses / Vaccines 2

Merkin Baller · October 2022

HughFreakingDillon said:

static111 said:

tempo_n_groove said:

At this point I too don't care if you're vaxxed or not.

In the beginning when not much was known about it we all did what we thought was right. Maybe it was a little obsessive, I mean I wiped down EVERYTHING i bought at the supermarket...

Now, I don't give a shit.

The same. Those first few weeks I was wiping everydamn thing down and then maybe even wiping it down again when I pulled it out of the fridge.

I was washing and sanitizing my hands more than usual, but that's about it. I wasn't wiping anything down that I couldn't tell was dirty.

I think you're probably right about the forced unemployment thing. At the time, I think it was justified because of what we knew/didn't know during that time period. Too many people are judging last year's actions with this year's knowledge, and that just doesn't make any sense. But I have no issue with back pay for those that lost their jobs.

Oddly, my workplace STILL advertises job postings with a vaxxed requirement, which surprises me, especially with the job market today, plus, they aren't exactly forcing current employees from proving they've gotten boosters, so someone who got one dose 2 years ago is at the same immunity level as a non vaxxed, so it's pretty stupid. Unless they are just keeping it that way in case of a new surge/variant/etc. Not sure.

Agreed.

mickeyrat · October 2022

Gift article....

https://wapo.st/3gO0Sc9

So far, this flu season is more severe than it has been in 13 years

By Lena H. Sun

Updated October 28, 2022 at 5:45 p.m. EDT|Published October 28, 2022 at 11:00 a.m. EDT

Influenza is hitting the United States unusually early and hard, resulting in the most hospitalizations at this point in the season in more than a decade and underscoring the potential for a perilous winter of respiratory viruses, according to federal health data released Friday.

While flu season is usually between October and May, peaking in December and January, it’s arrived about six weeks earlier this year with uncharacteristically high illness. There have already been at least 880,000 cases of influenza illness, 6,900 hospitalizations and 360 flu-related deaths nationally, including one child, according to estimates released Friday by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

continues.....

lastexitlondon · October 2022

https://youtu.be/EaJt5jC5gbY

As most people thought

Halifax2TheMax · October 2022

lastexitlondon said:

https://youtu.be/EaJt5jC5gbY

As most people thought

As most repubs thought, I think you mean? What did the Bullshit Detector in that other thread say about "absence of evidence?" Seems just as likely that gRANDstanding Paul is teeing up investigations. I look forward to Gym Jordan's mile a minute screaming word salads.

Senate Republican staffers have produced a report laying out their argument that the “most likely” origin of the coronavirus pandemic was some kind of “research-related incident” in China, citing safety lapses in laboratories there and arguing that there are evidentiary gaps in published scientific research that points to a natural origin from animals sold at a market in Wuhan.

The report, while not a formal scientific document, represents a possible template for a future investigatory hearing in Congress if Republicans gain control of the House or Senate — or both — following the midterm elections. The so-called “lab leak” theory is a talking point for some Republicans seeking office, and Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) has promised hearings if his party wins the Senate.

The 35-page “interim” report released Thursday comes from Sen. Richard Burr (R-N.C.) and Republican staffers on the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee, which has been probing the origin of the virus.

Although the report favors the “lab leak” origin, it does not rule out a market origin. The report also does not indulge the more provocative arguments for how SARS-CoV-2 entered the human population. There is no claim that the virus was engineered as a bioweapon, for example.

Nor does it mention Anthony S. Fauci, the head of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, who has been a frequent target of Paul and other lab-leak proponents because his institute helped fund virus research at the Wuhan Institute of Virology.

For those still trying to duck covid, the isolation is worse than ever

The report’s conclusions diverge sharply from those of two peer-reviewed studies published in the journal Science this summer that presented the case for the Huanan Seafood Market as the epicenter of the outbreak. One study found a geographical bull’s eye on the market among early cases of the disease that came to be called covid-19. The other study presented an analysis of two early strains of the virus suggesting that there were two and maybe many more distinct spillovers of the virus from animals sold at the market.

Scientists favoring the market origin do not know which animals were infected or where they came from. No animals at the market were tested before the market was closed and cleaned.

“Critical corroborating evidence of a natural zoonotic spillover is missing. While the absence of evidence is not itself evidence, the lack of corroborating evidence of a zoonotic spillover or spillovers, three years into the pandemic, is highly problematic,” the new GOP report states.

Michael Worobey, a professor at the University of Arizona who co-authored both studies published in Science, said the new GOP report “gets the science completely wrong.”

“As the saying goes, when you mix science and politics, you get politics,” he said.

Worobey said the hypothesis of some kind of laboratory incident was worth investigating, and he was among the scientists who wrote a letter to Science in May 2021 arguing that all possible origins should be probed. But he said his investigations and those of other scientists point to a market origin.

He said he is willing to testify if the Republicans call hearings.

David Relman, a professor of medicine at Stanford University who was one of the experts interviewed by the committee staff, praised the report as a credible effort to pull together a great deal of information, including on safety issues at Chinese laboratories.

“I think it’s a sober and fair treatment of what is largely a body of circumstantial evidence that makes the case for both hypotheses,” Relman said. “But in particular raises questions about the assumption that a natural spillover must have been the cause.”

Angela Rasmussen, a virologist at the University of Saskatchewan and co-author of one of the Science papers, dismissed the new GOP report as “speculative hand-waving” and views it as a partisan document.

“This is in service of trying to set up something that would be politically advantageous for one party,” she said. “It’s to make it easier to have essentially show trials for people’s adversaries, which has unfortunately come to include scientists.”

Covid lab leak theory supported in report from Senate Republicans - The Washington Post

Report An Analysis of the Origins of COVID-19 (senate.gov)

lastexitlondon · November 2022

Im not sure on usa politics or uk really. But just some clear truth would be nice. In hindsight its easier to see. But all this stuff thats factual around now after the event needs to be clear. Because when the next one comes the world needs information to be clear

lastexitlondon · November 2022

Like them fucking around in boston to make an 80% death rate virus in mice. Its fucking dangerous and needless. But its happening.

mickeyrat · November 2022

lastexitlondon said:

Like them fucking around in boston to make an 80% death rate virus in mice. Its fucking dangerous and needless. But its happening.

and in doing so, they can better combat a similar naturally occuring strain. but rigid protocols must be adhered to.

RunIntoTheRain · November 2022

Very much worth reading these regarding the Boston college story.

https://www.politifact.com/factchecks/2022/oct/20/instagram-posts/claim-boston-university-created-covid-19-strain-80/

https://www.factcheck.org/2022/10/scicheck-social-media-claims-misrepresent-boston-u-study-of-what-causes-severity-of-covid-19-strains/

tempo_n_groove · November 2022

RunIntoTheRain said:

Very much worth reading these regarding the Boston college story.

https://www.politifact.com/factchecks/2022/oct/20/instagram-posts/claim-boston-university-created-covid-19-strain-80/

https://www.factcheck.org/2022/10/scicheck-social-media-claims-misrepresent-boston-u-study-of-what-causes-severity-of-covid-19-strains/

This was informative. When I first read about it I was a wee bit skeptical too.

Thanks for posting.

23scidoo · November 2022

https://www.vanityfair.com/news/2022/10/covid-origins-investigation-wuhan-lab

lastexitlondon · November 2022

They are messing around all over the world trying to "prevent" or cure something. It comes down to security and responsibilities. As we have seen it doesn't take much for an experiment to become a pandemic killing 10 million people. It's the world we live in. Some nut case will soon put these virus into a drone and boom .

23scidoo · November 2022

https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2022/10/covid-response-forgiveness/671879/

TJ25487 · November 2022

23scidoo said:

https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2022/10/covid-response-forgiveness/671879/

Uh, no!

mickeyrat · November 2022

https://apnews.com/article/pfizer-updated-covid-booster-study-60a6bee38a4994794206701aa4701992

COVID-19 Thanksgiving

Pfizer study says updated COVID boosters rev up protection

By LAURAN NEERGAARD

Today

Pfizer’s updated COVID-19 booster significantly revved up adults’ virus-fighting antibodies, the company said Friday, releasing early findings from a rigorous study of the new shots.

Booster doses tweaked to target the most common omicron strain rolled out in early September, and the Food and Drug Administration said the latest data should spur more Americans to get one — especially before another expected wave of cases as people travel for Thanksgiving.

Pfizer said people 55 and older who got the omicron-targeting booster had four-fold higher antibody levels than those given an extra dose of the original vaccine.

With many Americans reluctant to roll up their sleeves again, perhaps the better question is how the new booster compares to going without another dose.

A hint: A month after receiving the new booster, antibody levels in people 55 and older had jumped 13 times higher than before the extra dose. Younger adults saw a 9.5-fold jump, Pfizer and its partner BioNTech said. It had been about 11 months since the study participants’ last vaccination.

It’s too soon to know how much real-world protection the antibody boost translates into -- and how long it will last. The results are preliminary, the study is still underway and infection-fighting antibodies naturally wane over time.

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Still, the FDA had cleared the updated boosters without first requiring testing in people, basing the decision on studies of a similarly tweaked vaccine — against an earlier omicron strain — rather than the exact recipe.

So the new data “reassures us that this was a good decision to move to this bivalent vaccine,” FDA vaccine chief Dr. Peter Marks told The Associated Press. “Right now is the time for people to consider going out and get the updated” booster.

Health experts say it's shaping up to be a rough winter. Flu season is starting unusually early and harsh, children's hospitals are packed with another respiratory illness named RSV, and COVID-19 cases again are expected to rise with holiday gatherings.

The original COVID-19 vaccines still offer strong protection against severe illness and death, especially among younger and healthier people who’ve gotten at least one booster — a reason for anyone who hasn't gotten their first set of shots to do so. But effectiveness drops as new mutants emerge and more time passes since someone’s last shot.

The updated doses are combination shots, tailored to offer a boost of protection against both the original coronavirus strain and the dominant BA.5 strain. Pfizer’s shot is available for anyone 5 or older. Moderna’s version of the updated booster is for those 6 and older.

About 26.3 million Americans have gotten an updated booster since they rolled out in early September, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Some small studies have recently raised questions about how much advantage the updated boosters will offer rather than just getting another dose of the original vaccine.

Pfizer’s early findings compared several dozen younger and older adults given the bivalent booster with a group who received a fourth dose of the company's original vaccine.

___

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.

mickeyrat · November 2022

https://apnews.com/article/science-health-covid-pandemics-072e11e5e3af77aac19fe95773a69610

Pandemics COVID-19

What’s behind worrying RSV surge in US children's hospitals?

By CARLA K. JOHNSON

24 Oct 2022

Children's hospitals in parts of the U.S. are seeing a surge in a common respiratory illness that can cause severe breathing problems for babies.

RSV cases fell dramatically two years ago as the pandemic shut down schools, day cares and businesses. With restrictions easing in the summer of 2021, doctors saw an alarming increase in what is normally a fall and winter virus.

Now, it's back again. And doctors are bracing for the possibility that RSV, flu and COVID-19 could combine to stress hospitals.

“I'm calling it an emergency,” said Dr. Juan Salazar of Connecticut Children’s Hospital, where RSV has caused a shuffling of patients into playrooms and other spaces not normally used for beds. The institution explored using a National Guard field hospital, but has set aside that option for now.

A look at RSV and what the recent surge may mean:

WHAT IS RSV?

It stands for respiratory syncytial virus, a common cause of mild cold-like symptoms such as runny nose, cough and fever. Nearly all U.S. children normally catch an RSV infection by age 2.

People infected are usually contagious for three to eight days. Babies and people with weakened immune systems can spread RSV for up to four weeks. There is no vaccine for it, though several candidates are in testing.

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WHO DOES IT AFFECT?

Everyone can get RSV. But it causes the most threat to infants, older adults and other vulnerable people, who can get serious airway and lung infections.

Among U.S. kids under age 5, RSV typically leads to 58,000 hospitalizations and up to 500 deaths in a year.

For adults 65 and older, RSV causes 177,000 hospitalizations and 14,000 deaths yearly.

For babies, the struggle to breathe can interfere with eating. “And that’s really when we start to worry,” said Dr. Melanie Kitagawa of Texas Children’s Hospital in Houston, where more than 40 children have RSV.

“They’re breathing fast, breathing deep. We see them using muscles in their chest to help them breathe,” Kitagawa said. “These are kids who are having difficulty taking a bottle because their breathing is being impacted and they can't coordinate both at once."

WHY IS THERE AN INCREASE NOW?

The virus is encountering a highly vulnerable population of babies and children who were sheltered from common bugs during the pandemic lockdowns.

Immune systems might not be as prepared to fight the virus after more than two years of masking, which offered protection, according to Dr. Elizabeth Mack of Medical University of South Carolina.

“South Carolina is drowning in RSV,” Mack said in a news release. The surge arrived earlier this year than normal, she said.

For babies, their mothers may not have been infected with RSV during pregnancy, which could have given the children some immunity.

U.S. health officials have noted a rise this month in national reports of respiratory illnesses, which they say is at least partly due to the early spread of flu in much of the South.

Last week, more than 7,000 tests came back positive for RSV, according to CDC figures. That's more than in previous surges.

IS THERE A TREATMENT?

There's no specific treatment, so it's a matter of managing symptoms and letting the virus run its course. Doctors may prescribe oral steroids or an inhaler to make breathing easier.

In serious cases, patients in the hospital may get oxygen, a breathing tube or a ventilator.

WHAT DO DOCTORS RECOMMEND?

Prevent the spread of viruses by washing hands thoroughly and staying home when you're sick.

During RSV season, an injection of an antibody-based medicine is sometimes prescribed to protect premature infants and other very vulnerable babies.

If you're worried your child is having a severe breathing problem, “do not hesitate” to go to an emergency department or call 911, said Dr. Russell Migita of Seattle Children’s Hospital, where RSV is on the rise.

For less severe medical problems, Migita said, call your regular health care provider for advice, use telehealth or go to urgent care.

In Chicago on Saturday, Dr. Juanita Mora saw a family of five kids all with RSV, ranging from a 3-year-old to a teenager. Fearing what’s ahead this winter, she’s telling everyone to get a flu shot and a COVID-19 booster.

“We don’t want a triple whammy, a triple pandemic,” Mora said.

___

Associated Press/Report for America reporter James Pollard contributed from Columbia, South Carolina. AP Medical Writer Mike Stobbe contributed.

___

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.