Promising New Coronavirus Vaccine

[faberryman]

If we gave $2000 (not the $1400 proposed in the $1.9 trillion billi) to each of the 10 million people unemployed, it would cost $20 billion.  Add $400 a week for 12 more weeks of unemployment insurance payments = $48 billion.  That's $68 billion compared to $1900 billion in the latest bill. That's  a savings of over $1.8 trillion.

So nothing for small businesses, schools and colleges, renters and landlords, vaccine development and distribution, state and local governments, etc.?

[Alan Klein]

Because as long as there are a lot of infected people there is a good risk of new variants emerging which evade the vaccines, and that health services are not equipped to handle the resulting surge in infections.  This has been explained many times, Alan.

That's a weak excuse. Let's wait for the variants to hit, if they will.  Otherwise, we can predict all sorts of stuff for the future and never leave our couches.

[Alan Klein]

Much cleaner air, for sure.

A girl behind every tree.

[faberryman]

That's a weak excuse. Let's wait for the variants to hit, if they will.  Otherwise, we can predict all sorts of stuff for the future and never leave our couches.

Who hasn't left their couch?

[TechTalk]

anyone for getting back to the vaccine topic ?

It appears not. If you've been to enough parties or events, it's not unusual to find individuals that are disrespectful to polite requests from the host.

[Alan Klein]

So nothing for small businesses, schools and colleges, renters and landlords, vaccine development and distribution, state and local governments, etc.?

We can't afford it.  The money is just being printed.  You have to draw the line somewhere. The economy is supposed to rebound because of the vaccines.  Let it do that naturally. These other entities will have to tighten their belts and allow the economy to go through a recession if that's what's required. Many will have to go broke.  Bad companies will perish instead of being bailed out like zombie corporations.  (It's estimated 20% of corporations have debt they can never survive.  We're just spending good money after bad trying to save them.  They have to go. That's how free markets work. )   Otherwise, it will be more painful later.   Good companies will survive and grow creating jobs for the people who worked for the zombie companies.  Half the little businesses like restaurants in trouble now will die regardless.  Why give money to their owners to stick in their pockets?  That's my money.  They didn't share their profits with me when they were earning them.  Our national debt just past $28 trillion about 130% of GDP.  We're going broke. 

What's going to happen in a few months when the $1.9 trillion runs out?  How long can you print money?  The day of reckoning will be worse. People have to get back to real work not handouts from the government. 

[TechTalk]

Got Questions About Johnson & Johnson's COVID-19 Vaccine? We Have Answers

https://www.npr.org/sections/health-shots/2021/03/04/got-questions-about-johnson-johnsons-covid-19-vaccine-we-have-answers

Short excerpts - More at link above

This week, health care providers began administering the first doses of Johnson & Johnson's COVID-19 vaccine in the U.S. — the third vaccine authorized by the Food and Drug Administration to help stop the coronavirus pandemic.

That's welcome news in a country that still faces high levels of circulating virus in most regions, and a demand for vaccine that still far outstrips supply.

The J&J vaccine has some significant advantages, health officials say. Unlike the Moderna and Pfizer vaccines, it can be stored for up to three months at regular refrigerator temperatures, so it's easier to distribute to more places. And you're fully vaccinated after just one dose — a welcome convenience for many recipients who dread the two-shot regimen of the Moderna and Pfizer vaccines...

How does the Johnson & Johnson vaccine work?

The J&J shot is based on a different technology than the Moderna and Pfizer vaccines. Those use mRNA, or messenger RNA, to deliver bits of genetic code to cells. This code serves as a sort of instruction sheet — telling cells how to make a harmless piece of the spike protein that sticks out of the surface of the coronavirus. The immune system then learns to recognize the spike protein and fight it.

The Johnson & Johnson vaccine, by contrast, is what's known as a viral vector vaccine — the same technology that's been proven safe and effective in creating an Ebola vaccine and others currently in the works. Basically, Johnson & Johnson started with an adenovirus, which causes the common cold, and modified it so it can't make anybody sick. They then used this harmless cold virus to deliver the genetic blueprint of the protein spike to cells, so the immune system will learn to recognize that spike when it runs into the coronavirus.

To be clear, the J&J vaccine "can't give you the cold virus, and it definitely cannot give you COVID," says Dr. Cassandra Pierre, an infectious disease specialist and acting hospital epidemiologist at Boston Medical Center.

[Alan Klein]

Got Questions About Johnson & Johnson's COVID-19 Vaccine? We Have Answers

https://www.npr.org/sections/health-shots/2021/03/04/got-questions-about-johnson-johnsons-covid-19-vaccine-we-have-answers

Short excerpts - More at link above

This week, health care providers began administering the first doses of Johnson & Johnson's COVID-19 vaccine in the U.S. — the third vaccine authorized by the Food and Drug Administration to help stop the coronavirus pandemic.

That's welcome news in a country that still faces high levels of circulating virus in most regions, and a demand for vaccine that still far outstrips supply.

The J&J vaccine has some significant advantages, health officials say. Unlike the Moderna and Pfizer vaccines, it can be stored for up to three months at regular refrigerator temperatures, so it's easier to distribute to more places. And you're fully vaccinated after just one dose — a welcome convenience for many recipients who dread the two-shot regimen of the Moderna and Pfizer vaccines...

How does the Johnson & Johnson vaccine work?

The J&J shot is based on a different technology than the Moderna and Pfizer vaccines. Those use mRNA, or messenger RNA, to deliver bits of genetic code to cells. This code serves as a sort of instruction sheet — telling cells how to make a harmless piece of the spike protein that sticks out of the surface of the coronavirus. The immune system then learns to recognize the spike protein and fight it.

The Johnson & Johnson vaccine, by contrast, is what's known as a viral vector vaccine — the same technology that's been proven safe and effective in creating an Ebola vaccine and others currently in the works. Basically, Johnson & Johnson started with an adenovirus, which causes the common cold, and modified it so it can't make anybody sick. They then used this harmless cold virus to deliver the genetic blueprint of the protein spike to cells, so the immune system will learn to recognize that spike when it runs into the coronavirus.

To be clear, the J&J vaccine "can't give you the cold virus, and it definitely cannot give you COVID," says Dr. Cassandra Pierre, an infectious disease specialist and acting hospital epidemiologist at Boston Medical Center.

Isn't the J&J vaccine less effective than the other two?  I believe around 85% vs. 95%. Which would you rather take?

[faberryman]

An interesting note is that for those who make the least in society here in America, the unemployment rate is around 20%, not 6%.  These are the people living week to week, paycheck to paycheck.  These are the people most hurt by a shutdown and inability to earn a living to feed their family.  Yet so many here are so nonchalant about that, so stuck on the possibilities of death from Covid they forget people die from starvation too.  Should these people live on the street?  I've been watching the homeless videos of people in LA living in tents on the streets there.  It's pathetic.  Like a third-world nation. Maybe some foreigners here just wish us ill.  They enjoy seeing America in trouble.  So they propose policies that make it worse for us.

You are opposed to Biden's COVID relief bill. How do you propose helping the people you describe without spending money?

If we gave $2000 (not the $1400 proposed in the $1.9 trillion billi) to each of the 10 million people unemployed, it would cost $20 billion.  Add $400 a week for 12 more weeks of unemployment insurance payments = $48 billion.  That's $68 billion compared to $1900 billion in the latest bill. That's  a savings of over $1.8 trillion.

By the way, there's almost one trillion left over from the last stimulus bill unspent.  All this money is doing is making richer people richer as stock market, real estate and other assets increase in value.  Meanwhile, the cost of living increases due to inflation will punish these poorer people on fixed income.  The wealth between rich and poor will increase. Wasteful economics. Hurtful social policy.

So nothing for small businesses, schools and colleges, renters and landlords, vaccine development and distribution, state and local governments, etc.? Seems like the guy who just got a job last week after being unemployed for a year gets left out.

We can't afford it.  The money is just being printed.  You have to draw the line somewhere. The economy is supposed to rebound because of the vaccines.  Let it do that naturally. These other entities will have to tighten their belts and allow the economy to go through a recession if that's what's required. Many will have to go broke.  Bad companies will perish instead of being bailed out like zombie corporations.  (It's estimated 20% of corporations have debt they can never survive.  We're just spending good money after bad trying to save them.  They have to go. That's how free markets work. )   Otherwise, it will be more painful later.   Good companies will survive and grow creating jobs for the people who worked for the zombie companies.  Half the little businesses like restaurants in trouble now will die regardless.  Why give money to their owners to stick in their pockets?  That's my money.  They didn't share their profits with me when they were earning them.  Our national debt just past $28 trillion about 130% of GDP.  We're going broke. 

What's going to happen in a few months when the $1.9 trillion runs out?  How long can you print money?  The day of reckoning will be worse. People have to get back to real work not handouts from the government.

[jeremyrh]

That's a weak excuse. Let's wait for the variants to hit, if they will.  Otherwise, we can predict all sorts of stuff for the future and never leave our couches.

It's not an "excuse". There is nothing to "excuse".  I don't have any sort of dog in a fight. I'm just telling you the reasons why it's sensible to take things slowly. You can believe it ir not.

[TechTalk]

Isn't the J&J vaccine less effective than the other two?  I believe around 85% vs. 95%. Which would you rather take?

I would follow the advice in the article and take whatever is available to me first.

Got Questions About Johnson & Johnson's COVID-19 Vaccine? We Have Answers

https://www.npr.org/sections/health-shots/2021/03/04/got-questions-about-johnson-johnsons-covid-19-vaccine-we-have-answers

Short excerpt - More at link above

Will I be as well protected against getting super sick with COVID-19 if I get the J&J shot as if I get a two-dose version from Pfizer or Moderna?

"When we look at the thing we probably care about most — making sure that we don't end up in the ICU or dying — the efficacy of the three vaccines is virtually identical," says Dr. Kirsten Bibbins-Domingo, chair of the department of epidemiology and biostatistics at the University of California, San Francisco.

The perception that some vaccines may be better than others has to do with the topline numbers from efficacy studies. The mRNA vaccines from Pfizer and Moderna were both found to be about 95% effective against preventing symptomatic COVID-19 after the second dose. The Johnson & Johnson vaccine, by contrast, was found to be 66% protective against moderate and severe disease overall worldwide, and 72% protective against such cases in the U.S.

But you can't really compare those numbers head to head, says Pierre, because "these were different trials in different places at different times," and the strains of the coronavirus running around were likely somewhat different. The Johnson & Johnson vaccine was tested more recently, including in South Africa and Brazil, at a time when more contagious variants of the coronavirus were widely circulating in those countries. The Moderna and Pfizer clinical studies, meanwhile, were started earlier, before such variants had become widespread.

Given those differences, Bibbins-Domingo says "the number you should probably compare is 85%" — that's how effective the J & J vaccine was found to be at preventing severe disease four weeks after immunization.

Ashish Jha, dean of the Brown University School of Public Health, agrees that the J&J vaccine seems to be "terrific" at saving lives. He tells NPR he's advising his family members to take whichever vaccine comes their way first.

Why shouldn't I just hold out for the vaccine with the highest efficacy rate?

Get whichever vaccine you can as soon as you're eligible, Pierre, Jha and other infectious disease experts urge. The longer you go unvaccinated, the longer you're at risk of contracting a COVID-19 infection that potentially could kill you.

"I view it as a race against time," Pierre says, based on the data and her own experience with her mom. Pierre scrambled to schedule an immunization appointment for her mother as soon as the older woman became eligible. But before she could get immunized, she was diagnosed with COVID-19.

Pierre's mom recovered from that infection, but more than 500,000 other Americans have not been so fortunate.

[TechTalk]

Health Canada approves Johnson & Johnson’s COVID-19 vaccine as Pfizer bumps deliveries

https://www.theglobeandmail.com/canada/article-health-canada-to-reportedly-announce-approval-of-johnson-johnsons

Excerpts - More at link above

The addition of another COVID-19 vaccine to Canada’s arsenal and accelerated deliveries for another had government officials taking an optimistic tone Friday about the path of the pandemic in Canada.

Health Canada announced the approval of the COVID-19 vaccine from Johnson & Johnson, saying regulators have evidence showing the vaccine is both safe and effective against the novel coronavirus that causes the disease.

Meanwhile, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau also said Canada will get 1.5 million more doses of Pfizer-BioNTech’s COVID-19 vaccine delivered this month, and another two million doses that were set to arrive in the summer will now come in April and May.

“We are expecting far more doses by September than there are Canadians, even given that we’re only talking about doses from four different approved companies right now,” Trudeau said Friday.

“We have reasons to be optimistic.”

Health Canada has now approved four distinct COVID-19 vaccines, with the others being from Pfizer-BioNTech, Moderna and Oxford-AstraZeneca. The regulator includes a fifth on its list of authorized shots: Covishield, which is a separate brand name for doses of the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine produced at the Serum Institute of India.

[TechTalk]

A Q&A report from The BMJ (British Medical Journal) published by the British Medical Association on vaccines and variants.

Covid-19: Where are we on vaccines and variants?

BMJ (Published 02 March 2021)

https://www.bmj.com/content/Covid-19: Where are we on vaccines and variants?

Nearly a year after WHO declared the covid-19 pandemic, Elisabeth Mahase reports on the latest developments in vaccines, variants, and diplomacy

[Alan Klein]

I would follow the advice in the article and take whatever is available to me first.

Got Questions About Johnson & Johnson's COVID-19 Vaccine? We Have Answers

https://www.npr.org/sections/health-shots/2021/03/04/got-questions-about-johnson-johnsons-covid-19-vaccine-we-have-answers

Short excerpt - More at link above

Will I be as well protected against getting super sick with COVID-19 if I get the J&J shot as if I get a two-dose version from Pfizer or Moderna?

"When we look at the thing we probably care about most — making sure that we don't end up in the ICU or dying — the efficacy of the three vaccines is virtually identical," says Dr. Kirsten Bibbins-Domingo, chair of the department of epidemiology and biostatistics at the University of California, San Francisco.

The perception that some vaccines may be better than others has to do with the topline numbers from efficacy studies. The mRNA vaccines from Pfizer and Moderna were both found to be about 95% effective against preventing symptomatic COVID-19 after the second dose. The Johnson & Johnson vaccine, by contrast, was found to be 66% protective against moderate and severe disease overall worldwide, and 72% protective against such cases in the U.S.

But you can't really compare those numbers head to head, says Pierre, because "these were different trials in different places at different times," and the strains of the coronavirus running around were likely somewhat different. The Johnson & Johnson vaccine was tested more recently, including in South Africa and Brazil, at a time when more contagious variants of the coronavirus were widely circulating in those countries. The Moderna and Pfizer clinical studies, meanwhile, were started earlier, before such variants had become widespread.

Given those differences, Bibbins-Domingo says "the number you should probably compare is 85%" — that's how effective the J & J vaccine was found to be at preventing severe disease four weeks after immunization.

Ashish Jha, dean of the Brown University School of Public Health, agrees that the J&J vaccine seems to be "terrific" at saving lives. He tells NPR he's advising his family members to take whichever vaccine comes their way first.

Why shouldn't I just hold out for the vaccine with the highest efficacy rate?

Get whichever vaccine you can as soon as you're eligible, Pierre, Jha and other infectious disease experts urge. The longer you go unvaccinated, the longer you're at risk of contracting a COVID-19 infection that potentially could kill you.

"I view it as a race against time," Pierre says, based on the data and her own experience with her mom. Pierre scrambled to schedule an immunization appointment for her mother as soon as the older woman became eligible. But before she could get immunized, she was diagnosed with COVID-19.

Pierre's mom recovered from that infection, but more than 500,000 other Americans have not been so fortunate.

Double-speak from experts. They;re afraid if they ackowledged there is a difference in effectiveness, no one would take J&J's vaccine.

[degrub]

No double speak. Just factual details. Any of the three will go a long way in reducing the number of cases that require hospitalization. Get the first one offered. If it makes someone feel better, ask if there is an option and pick the one you want. Getting vaccinated is more important than the specific choice as the only other option is getting the virus and seeing what happens to one and how far one can help spread it.

[Chris Kern]

Any of the three will go a long way in reducing the number of cases that require hospitalization. Get the first one offered. . . . Getting vaccinated is more important than the specific choice as the only other option is getting the virus and seeing what happens to one and how far one can help spread it.

I wouldn't be surprised if we wound up needing multiple vaccinations before this coronavirus is under control, or at least additional doses beyond the initial one(s) we receive, due to mutations of the virus, reductions over time in the immune response elicited by our initial vaccinations, or the introduction of new vaccines that produce sterilizing immunity or other significant improvements over the ones currently available.

[John Camp]

My wife and I just got our second Moderna shots on Wednesday. Neither one of us hurt much after the first one -- sore arms -- but my wife really got knocked down but the second one. She couldn't get out of bed the day after, and had strong joint pain which went away with a couple of Tylenol (CDC says it's okay to take Tylenol if you have pain after the shot, but not to take it before, as a preventative.) The day after, she was in bed until six o'clock in the evening, got up for a couple hours, then slept through the night. The next day, she was almost back to normal, and on the third day, she's out riding her horse. Said it was like one day of the flu.

[LesPalenik]

In Prague, they served now cakes with a vaccine. I suspect the syringe is filled with a white rum.

Prague virus and vaccine cakes

[TechTalk]

Double-speak from experts. They;re [they're] afraid if they ackowledged [acknowledged] there is a difference in effectiveness, no one would take J&J's vaccine.

There is no doublespeak. None. They not only acknowledge the differences in effectiveness exhibited in clinical trials in detail, they also provide details in the differences in time and place of those trials needed to better comprehend the results. At least, they do for those with the ability to comprehend.

Those not suffering from an excess of paranoia or lacking enough ability to comprehend simple concepts like — "The longer you go unvaccinated, the longer you're at risk of contracting a COVID-19 infection that potentially could kill you." — will gladly "Get whichever vaccine you can as soon as you're eligible" as "infectious disease experts urge" because not doing so would defy the simplest logic and common sense.

[TechTalk]

Because as long as there are a lot of infected people there is a good risk of new variants emerging

That is exactly right. It requires only the most basic understanding of how viruses replicate and mutate to understand that fact and why getting as many people vaccinated as soon as possible is so important.

https://health.clevelandclinic.org/what-does-it-mean-that-the-coronavirus-is-mutating

However, the contagiousness of the newer variants is all the more reason to stay careful and follow public health measures for preventing the spread of the virus – like wearing a mask, washing your hands, limiting close contact with others and getting vaccinated when you’re able.

That's a weak excuse.

Wrong.

Let's wait for the variants to hit, if they will.

Here's a better idea. Let's not wait for variants to hit as they have tended to be more readily transmissible and spread faster than the virus from which they mutated and can accelerate and prolong the pandemic.