Fantastic Vaccine Results in US

[mpeirce]

I see it on our local news broadcast every single night.

Same here.

Any coverage of vaccines and it’s just a loop of people getting shots.

 

[audreyh1]

It’s true. The US will be challenged as long as the rest of the world is on fire. Those eager to travel overseas will encounter countries still fighting like mad.

 

[iloveyoga]

I see it on our local news broadcast every single night.

Me too. I have to look away, such a long needle! I get my second shot on Wednesday.

 

[harllee]

Same here.

Any coverage of vaccines and it’s just a loop of people getting shots.

You guys must have really bad local TV stations--I am glad mine is better, they show the actual local news. They show info about the vaccines but it is mainly where to find vaccinations sites.

 

[audreyh1]

Yet another reason I haven’t watched local news in over 10 years.

 

[Chuckanut]

AR I am interested in finding out about the vaccination effectiveness for people like my husband who has an autoimmune disease (psoriatic arthritis) and has to take Humira. He has been fully vaccinated with Moderna but we are concerned about how effective the vaccine is for him. He talked to his doctor and the doctor said no one knows yet how immune compromised people will be affected by the vaccine. Do you have any information I could look at?

FWIW, I just heard an interview from 3/25 People's Pharmacy with a corona virus researcher (He's been doing that for 30 years). They are working on developing pharmaceutical treatments to destroy the virus after one gets infected. But, these are harder than vaccines and will take more time.

 

[Chuckanut]

Yet another reason I haven’t watched local news in over 10 years.

Last night's local newscast in my area started with the startling lead that thanks to warm weather "people are crowding into the parks and risking another spike in Covid cases". After this scary intro they showed actual footage of Covid scoffing people in the park, clustered in small groups of 2-4 people who had to be at 12 to 30 feet away from the other groups. Shocking!!!

 

[explanade]

It’s true. The US will be challenged as long as the rest of the world is on fire. Those eager to travel overseas will encounter countries still fighting like mad.

I don't think I will be going to Brazil or India any time soon.

Canada is having a rough time and so is Europe, though I think the situation is improving in Italy and Spain and Portugal have low number of new cases though a month or two ago, they were on fire.

I think any country which would allow American tourists will wait until their cases are low and they could at least open up restaurants as opposed to closing them or closing them after 6 PM.

 

[Popeye]

I don't think I will be going to Brazil or India any time soon.

Canada is having a rough time and so is Europe, though I think the situation is improving in Italy and Spain and Portugal have low number of new cases though a month or two ago, they were on fire.

I think any country which would allow American tourists will wait until their cases are low and they could at least open up restaurants as opposed to closing them or closing them after 6 PM.

This brings to mind a question. Will the travelers here look at not only their destination country but also the policies of that country regarding who else they let in? You don’t want to travel to Brazil but you also may not want to visit a country that allows travelers from Brazil. I think a big risk going forward may be travelers bringing back variants which may be more transmissible even to vaccinated populations.

 

[mpeirce]

You guys must have really bad local TV stations.

They are not bad, just cheap. The stories are always something about vaccines. Actual news, but they just don’t have video footage to go along with it.

 

[Telly]

I think we need to continue to urge people to do the right things we know are helping to slow the spread instead of pretending everything is better and its ok to party like its 1999.

I agree, lest we end up partying like it's 1349.

 

[JoeWras]

I agree, lest we end up partying like it's 1349.

Well I laughed pretty hard at Telly's response.

...

In case you haven't been reading a bunch of history of disease like me, here's the scoop. In Italy, they were partying like crazy in 1349. The world was coming out of darkness and opening up. Trade ramped up, the world was getting big.

And then it came crashing down from a little thing called bubonic plague.

Italy popularized and formalized the idea of quarantine from this epidemic centered around 1350. The word quarantine comes from the Italian of the time.

So yeah, they literally were partying in 1349 and it all crashed down after that. At least in Italy, things changed. They figured out that quarantine works -- or at least helps (I don't think they had the rat thing figured out yet). There were no more quick and fast cruises to Italy for a little fun.

The rest of the world picked up on the idea, slowly, over the following decades.

It is interesting that Italy was again an early hot spot in this pandemic. Also interesting that travel has been a huge factor in spreading, and quarantines are part of the protocol.

 

[audreyh1]

It is interesting that Italy was again an early hot spot in this pandemic. Also interesting that travel has been a huge factor in spreading, and quarantines are part of the protocol.

Italy being the most advanced and wealthy European region at the time, had massive seagoing trade with the Middle East/Byzantine Empire, so it's not surprising that it showed up there first as the plague came from Central Asia via Asia Minor.

Also - syphilis brought from the New World showed up there courtesy of Columbus ships and sailors, and spread by the Italian wars of the period that had armies from France and Spain and various Italian states fighting through the region.

Poor Italy got unlucky the time because the timing coincided with travel to ski resorts. It was actually an Austrian ski resort that was the early super spreader event. Easy place to spread because of indoor partying.

 

[sengsational]

I wonder how many of the breakthrough cases were in people taking immunosuppressant drugs like Humira, and other "...mab" drugs. Those are huge money-makers (high price and take them for the rest of your life). I don't expect that the data on that will appear quickly and clearly.

 

[harllee]

I wonder how many of the breakthrough cases were in people taking immunosuppressant drugs like Humira, and other "...mab" drugs. Those are huge money-makers (high price and take them for the rest of your life). I don't expect that the data on that will appear quickly and clearly.

But for many people like my DH Humira is a life changing medication. He would be an invalid in a wheelchair without Humira. If you had a choice between being an invalid in a wheelchair versus taking Humira and living a normal life, which would you chose?

 

[sengsational]

I'm not saying immunosuppressing drugs are "bad". I'm saying we should know the risks of taking them with Sars-Cov2 viruses in the population. But our ability to know might not be made clear.

 

[harllee]

I'm not saying immunosuppressing drugs are "bad". I'm saying we should know the risks of taking them with Sars-Cov2 viruses in the population. But our ability to know might not be made clear.

But you made it sound like these drugs were just money makers for the drug companies. These drugs do work and are miracles for many people.

 

[tmm99]

I wonder how many of the breakthrough cases were in people taking immunosuppressant drugs like Humira, and other "...mab" drugs.

Interesting point! I imagine anybody who is taking immunosuppressant drugs would have harder time building antibodies...

 

[Chuckanut]

Today is indeed a good day for good news. Among the items I have heard or read:

1. The USA now has at least one shot in 50% of the population.
2. Israel has reported that when they reached 50%, that is when they started to see a steep decline in the infection rate.
3. NY Times science article reports good news on the vaccination versus variants front. It looks like the vaccines are still very effective against the most common variant, and scientists expect the Pfizer and Moderna to be at least 60% effective with some of the nastier variants.
4. The most common variant spreads so easily that the nastier variants may not be able to successfully compete against it.
5. Moderator Alan's son has cleared the virus.

IMO, the following article is well written and easy for the layperson to understand.

https://www.nytimes.com/2021/04/15/well/live/covid-variants-vaccine.html

All of the major vaccines in use — Pfizer-BioNTech, Moderna, Johnson & Johnson, AstraZeneca, Sputnik and Novavax — have been shown to be effective against B.1.1.7.

In countries like the United States where B.1.1.7 is dominant, some of the other variants seem to be getting crowded out, making them less of a worry.

it’s believed that these two-dose vaccines could reduce risk of infection against the variant by about 60 percent to 70 percent and still are highly effective at preventing severe disease and hospitalization.

Now imagine a hypothetical scenario with a vaccine that is 70 percent effective against a more challenging variant. Under the same conditions of the clinical trial, vaccination would still protect 21,672 people in the group, and just 48 vaccinated people — less than one percent — would become infected, compared to 162 in the unvaccinated group. Even though overall efficacy was lower, only a fraction of vaccinated people in this scenario would get infected, most likely with only mild illness.

 

[REWahoo]

Today is indeed a good day for good news. Among the items I have heard or read:

1. The USA now has at least one shot in 50% of the population.
2. Israel has reported that when they reached 50%, that is when they started to see a steep decline in the infection rate.
3. NY Times science article reports good news on vaccination versus variants front. It looks like the vaccines are still very effective against the most common variant, and scientists expect the Pfizer and Moderna to be at least 70% effective with some of the nastier variants. (Note: this is not certain, but it seems probable.)
4. The most common variant spreads so easily that the nastier variants may not be able to successfully compete against it.

Can't believe you didn't include this one:

Update from Jeffrey just now is that this morning the doctor has said he is clear of the Covid infection and once his liver enzymes are back to normal he can be discharged, as long as he is deemed fit enough by the physiotherapists. He has just seen the physios and they have passed him fit enough to go home.

... His liver tests are headed in the right direction so we expect him to be discharged in the next day or so.

 

[Chuckanut]

Can't believe you didn't include this one:

Thanks.
Additional good news, Indeed! It has been added to the list.

 

[ivinsfan]

But you made it sound like these drugs were just money makers for the drug companies. These drugs do work and are miracles for many people.

What sensi is forgetting is that a lot of people on these type drugs would have bigger issues with Covid anyway.

 

[ivinsfan]

RE chuckanuts lists, who thought we'd ever
start hoping to get a certain "type" of Covid..




I'll take the plain Jane covid and not one of the fancy ones, thank you very much

 

[ExFlyBoy5]

Deleted

 

[Amethyst]

I didn't read his comment that way, but can see why your DH's need for the drug would cause you to focus on the "money maker" comment.

I imagine we've all seen the commercials for the "mab"-type drugs, heard the announcer muttering about side effects, and thought, "Gee, that's a high price to pay, but I'd pay it, if I had that condition." I'm glad it's helping your DH.

25 years ago, I worked with a woman who had, I think, rheumatoid arthritis. It had twisted her poor fingers so she could hardly type. She was taking part in a trial for an early one of these drugs. One of the side effects was liver damage, but her hands didn't hurt any more! The new drugs are probably much better.

But you made it sound like these drugs were just money makers for the drug companies. These drugs do work and are miracles for many people.