Promising New Coronavirus Vaccine

[Manoli]

What happens when you throw caution to the wind ...



The share of Indians testing positive for covid-19 is now 23.5%; if a greater proportion of India’s population of 1.4bn were tested, no doubt millions of new cases would be detected.  South America, another region with a surging caseload, is recording 60% more cases today than at the peak of the first wave. South Asia is logging four times as many, and with no sign of slowing.

[Chris Kern]

The share of Indians testing positive for covid-19 is now 23.5%; if a greater proportion of India’s population of 1.4bn were tested, no doubt millions of new cases would be detected.  South America, another region with a surging caseload, is recording 60% more cases today than at the peak of the first wave. South Asia is logging four times as many, and with no sign of slowing.

And, unfortunately, the out-of-control infection rates in South Asia and South America provide ideal laboratories for the development of new coronavirus variants, some of which may turn out to be able to evade the current vaccines.  (Not that other parts of the world are exempt, but the more infections, the greater the likelihood of mutation.)

[Alan Klein]

So certain someone really went after me in months past for implying that the teacher's unions, not science, was dictating the school reopening guidance.  Welp ...

Critics slam CDC after teachers union influences guidelines: 'Based in politics and not science'

This is why people dont trust our health experts.  They have given up being scientists for being politicians.   

I am going to get vaccinated this week, and then I am done paying attention to the little amount of things I am still doing. 

The CDC and Fauci have been acting like politicians the whole time, not like experts. 

[Alan Klein]

What happens when you throw caution to the wind ...



The share of Indians testing positive for covid-19 is now 23.5%; if a greater proportion of India’s population of 1.4bn were tested, no doubt millions of new cases would be detected.  South America, another region with a surging caseload, is recording 60% more cases today than at the peak of the first wave. South Asia is logging four times as many, and with no sign of slowing.

I wonder if China infected India their adversary with the new variant? 

[Peter McLennan]

Your Fürer's Covid death rate in his first 100 days is already at 45% of what you accused Trump of for the whole year.

Your ignorance is showing, AGAIN.

You have zero idea who my “Furer” is.

No do I recall accusing trump of any death figure.

Are you awake, yet? This just in: the death toll has exceeded 60,000.

[Manoli]

Your ignorance is showing, AGAIN.
You have zero idea who my “Furer” is.

I'm guessing that Slobodan must be referring to the Swiss mathematician Martin Fürer of Pennsylvania State University, Fürer's algorithm is an integer multiplication algorithm for extremely large integers with very low asymptotic complexity, published in 2007.

Of course, I could be mistaken and he means Führer (or Fuehrer when the umlaut is not available), but knowing Slobodan a little, I'm sure 'tis but a simple spelling mistake.

ITM. please remind him of the title of this thread.

[chez]

You really think you said something smart?

Smart enough to get your knickers wound up tight.

Do you think your infamous “wake me up when we reach 60,000” post is something smart as it looks pretty dumb now.

[chez]

Your Fürer's Covid death rate in his first 100 days is already at 45% of what you accused Trump of for the whole year.

Surely you are smarter than that Slobo? Or maybe not!

[Alan Klein]

Everyone keeps on saying we are going to see an boom when this is over, but I just dont think it is going to happen, at least not in the blue states.  PA, NY, NJ and the rest of the north east lost 30% of small businesses due to the lockdowns.  That does not just fix itself. 

On top of that, many liberals are still scared to go outside even if they are vaccinated.  Too many in these regions have been broken mentally.  I live in a fairly sane neighborhood, Roxborough, which is purple and leans red, so most of the time when I walk around most people are not wearing masks outside.  This though is not the normal in the city, and I know many lefties who think even by Summer's end, they still dont think we should be doing anything.  Red states will obviously fair better with this.     

On top of that, I read that if you look at how inflation has been tracking over the first few months of the year and assume it continues, we are in a 16% to 18% inflationary curve already.  Hold on to your bank accounts, because in a year your money will be worth a lot less.  The reason for this is pointed to the government putting too much money into the market, artificially increasing future demand, while keeping people home during the last year, artificially decreasing supply.  Houses, all building materials, gasoline, food prices, etc. have all gone up.

I think any uptick in GDP will be offset by inflation, if not more so.  You cant throw a year-long Covid-19 stay-at-home party without the bill eventually coming due. 

My wife voted for Trump, thinks Biden is a jerk, but yet.  In order to maintain peace in my family, I had to cancel going to my poker game even though all the players including me are fully vaccinated, as is my wife.  She still thinks it's unsafe.  The CDC and newspapers cautions, and Bidens still wearing his mask indoors, gets to people.  Even I wonder?  Maybe the shots aren't that great?  The government because of politics, isn't following science and still scaring everyone.  Biden goes in with his wife, takes off their masks, and sees the 96-year-old former President Carter and his 93-year-old wife.  Then when he leaves, he puts his mask back on outdoors where it's not required at all.  Now, what does that tell the average person?  It's all a joke.  All politics.  No wonder so many people have stopped getting vaccinated.

[Robert Roaldi]

My wife voted for Trump, thinks Biden is a jerk, but yet.  In order to maintain peace in my family, I had to cancel going to my poker game even though all the players including me are fully vaccinated, as is my wife.  She still thinks it's unsafe.  The CDC and newspapers cautions, and Bidens still wearing his mask indoors, gets to people.  Even I wonder?  Maybe the shots aren't that great?  The government because of politics, isn't following science and still scaring everyone.  Biden goes in with his wife, takes off their masks, and sees the 96-year-old former President Carter and his 93-year-old wife.  Then when he leaves, he puts his mask back on outdoors where it's not required at all.  Now, what does that tell the average person?  It's all a joke.  All politics.  No wonder so many people have stopped getting vaccinated.

It's not at all complicated. Vaccines aren't 100% effective. Not everyone has had one yet. There are still a lot of new infections and deaths every day. We are not in herd immunity yet. So all the protection methods continue to make sense. You don't stop protecting yourself at the start of the vaccination process, you stop at the end of the vaccination process, after infections have died down to the point where getting infected is very rare. I am not sure why this is controversial.

[degrub]

The epidemiology and mitigation is straightforward. It is the behavior that raises controversy - inconsistent at times and illogical to many so the perception is created of “do what i say, not what i do”.

[Alan Klein]

It's not at all complicated. Vaccines aren't 100% effective. Not everyone has had one yet. There are still a lot of new infections and deaths every day. We are not in herd immunity yet. So all the protection methods continue to make sense. You don't stop protecting yourself at the start of the vaccination process, you stop at the end of the vaccination process, after infections have died down to the point where getting infected is very rare. I am not sure why this is controversial.

Because we were told that vaccinations prevent us from getting the disease. If we still have to hide like Biden does, what' the point of the vaccine?The problem is it's all become political.  Has been since it started.  as I said a year ago, it's all because 2020 was an election year.  The mask and vaccinations all became political.  Your argument rings hallow.

[Slobodan Blagojevic]

... I'm sure 'tis but a simple spelling mistake...

Thanks for the correction, my bad.

[Slobodan Blagojevic]

... Biden goes in with his wife, takes off their masks, and sees the 96-year-old former President Carter and his 93-year-old wife.  Then when he leaves, he puts his mask back on outdoors where it's not required at all...

Grandma and grandpa killers:

[Robert Roaldi]

Because we were told that vaccinations prevent us from getting the disease. If we still have to hide like Biden does, what' the point of the vaccine?The problem is it's all become political.  Has been since it started.  as I said a year ago, it's all because 2020 was an election year.  The mask and vaccinations all became political.  Your argument rings hallow.

Please, get a grip.

[James Clark]

Grandma and grandpa killers:

I'm pretty sure those are just puppets that resemble the Carters.

[Alan Klein]

I'm pretty sure those are just puppets that resemble the Carters.

Just to think, if we live that long, we're going to shrink into puppet size too. 

[Robert Roaldi]

In case you haven't had enough doom and gloom for a lifetime, this Sam Harris podcast is about what a future more deadly viral outbreak would mean and how unprepared we are, https://samharris.org/podcasts/special-episode-engineering-apocalypse/. Warning, it's very long at nearly 4 hours. They basically blue-sky a future disaster and discuss past errors and the state of viral research.

I'll copy the first couple of paragraphs from the blurb, it does a better job to introduce the discussion than anything I could write:

<<<<<
In this nearly 4-hour SPECIAL EPISODE, Rob Reid delivers a 100-minute monologue (broken up into 4 segments, and interleaved with discussions with Sam) about the looming danger of a man-made pandemic, caused by an artificially-modified pathogen. The risk of this occurring is far higher and nearer-term than almost anyone realizes.

Rob explains the science and motivations that could produce such a catastrophe and explores the steps that society must start taking today to prevent it. These measures are concrete, affordable, and scientifically fascinating—and almost all of them are applicable to future, natural pandemics as well. So if we take most of them, the odds of a future Covid-like outbreak would plummet—a priceless collateral benefit.
>>>>>

[Alan Klein]

In case you haven't had enough doom and gloom for a lifetime, this Sam Harris podcast is about what a future more deadly viral outbreak would mean and how unprepared we are, https://samharris.org/podcasts/special-episode-engineering-apocalypse/. Warning, it's very long at nearly 4 hours. They basically blue-sky a future disaster and discuss past errors and the state of viral research.

I'll copy the first couple of paragraphs from the blurb, it does a better job to introduce the discussion than anything I could write:

<<<<<
In this nearly 4-hour SPECIAL EPISODE, Rob Reid delivers a 100-minute monologue (broken up into 4 segments, and interleaved with discussions with Sam) about the looming danger of a man-made pandemic, caused by an artificially-modified pathogen. The risk of this occurring is far higher and nearer-term than almost anyone realizes.

Rob explains the science and motivations that could produce such a catastrophe and explores the steps that society must start taking today to prevent it. These measures are concrete, affordable, and scientifically fascinating—and almost all of them are applicable to future, natural pandemics as well. So if we take most of them, the odds of a future Covid-like outbreak would plummet—a priceless collateral benefit.
>>>>>

Why we need labs to develop any of these diseases is immoral and just plain nuts.  Whether it gets out by accident or is deliberately released are scary things to contemplate. 

[Chris Kern]

The U.S. government has endorsed a proposal to waive intellectual property protections for coronavirus vaccines.  Katherine Tai, the United States trade representative, made the announcement in a short press release earlier today:

This is a global health crisis, and the extraordinary circumstances of the COVID-19 pandemic call for extraordinary measures. The [Biden] Administration believes strongly in intellectual property protections, but in service of ending this pandemic, supports the waiver of those protections for COVID-19 vaccines.

The waiver, proposed by India and South Africa, is being discussed at the current World Trade Organization meeting in Geneva.  The idea is controversial on both sides of the Atlantic, and there are technical issues that are likely to make drafting waiver language that would be acceptable to the W.T.O. members both complex and time-consuming.