Covid-19 #19 Tsunami Wave

[Fragile Bird]

3 minutes ago, Chataya de Fleury said:

My dad is 74 and he's in the Pfizer trial.

I just heard that anyone who got the placebo will be told once the FDA approval is granted and they will be at the top of the list to get the real vaccine.

Didn’t you say your dad was showing symptoms?

[Trebla]

White House naturally trying to take credit for vaccine but Pfizer quickly shot that down. 

 

[Mr. Chatywin et al.]

1 hour ago, Fragile Bird said:

The requirement that has to be met before the FDA will approve it is two months of safety results. Pfizer has 44,000 volunteers taking the vaccine and apparently there have been no safety issues in the two months.

The CEO of Pfizer was just on CNBC being interviewed and I’m sure it will be posted on their web site if it hasn’t been done so already, if you want to get the news right from the horse’s mouth, so to speak.

The 90% effectiveness rate is way higher than expected.

It could also be really misleading. I was listening to a few docs on the TV and they were saying that while it could be effective for most people, the actual benefits of it are still unknown. The flu shot is the common comparison, and that isn't really all that effective in a lot of instances. 

[rotting sea cow]

31 minutes ago, Chataya de Fleury said:

My dad is 74 and he's in the Pfizer trial.

Thanks for the correction and keep us updated! Fingers crossed

[rotting sea cow]

24 minutes ago, Chataya de Fleury said:

Yes, though he's certain he got the real vaccine (given the post-vaccine symptoms over 24 hours). 

Yeah, in most trials people can clearly identify the vaccine from the placebo because of the symptoms. A few developers are using other tested vaccines because of that reason. I think Oxford/Astrazeneca is using a meningococcal vaccine.

 

24 minutes ago, Chataya de Fleury said:

So, it could well be like the flu shot in that if you do get sick, you end up with a much milder illness. Or dad could well have something else (such as a cold). I know he got the PCR test, but I'll have to wait for my aunt to get back to hear any family gossip since my parents are "JUST FINE!!!"

I think it is pretty clear by now that it can prevent the severe disease. Whether it can prevent getting infected or infecting others is still to be seen. Let's wait for more data, but nevertheless interesting news.

[DireWolfSpirit]

This can't be repeated enough-

"We were never part of the Warp Speed," Kathrin Jansen, a senior vice president and the head of vaccine research and development at Pfizer, said in an interview. "We have never taken any money from the U.S. government, or from anyone."

Yeah Trump just slink off, you can't steal this either.

Eta: Phizer stock up 15 and climbing

I personally would like to see every senior citizen get the vaccine FIRST IN LINE!!

Watch this shit turn into the Titanic line for the rescue boats.

[Heartofice]

27 minutes ago, DireWolfSpirit said:

Eta: Phizer stock up 15 and climbing

Zoom stock down as well!

[Mudguard]

Really great news.  If the Pfizer vaccine is 90% effective, then there's a reasonable chance that some of the other vaccines are also highly effective.  We should be getting news about the other vaccines soon.  Having multiple effective vaccines would help a lot with supply issues.  The speed that these vaccines have been developed has been amazing.

[RhaenysBee]

The Pfizer vaccine is not the same as the Russian vaccine, is it? It’s been in our news for a couple days that there’d be a vaccine to access around January, but that’s supposed to be the Russian vaccine once it’s validated. And I only read the Pfizer news today. 

[Fragile Bird]

46 minutes ago, DireWolfSpirit said:

 

Eta: Phizer stock up 15 and climbing

It had a quick jump up and the settled down off it’s highs. Pfizer has been dead money for decades, almost 40 years. When people talk about those damn shareholders getting rich off of illness, it ain’t from Pfizer!

[Zorral]

24 minutes ago, Fragile Bird said:

It had a quick jump up and the settled down off it’s highs. Pfizer has been dead money for decades, almost 40 years. When people talk about those damn shareholders getting rich off of illness, it ain’t from Pfizer!

https://www.reuters.com/article/health-coronavirus-biontech-ceo-newsmake/behind-pfizers-vaccine-an-understated-husband-and-wife-dream-team-idUSKBN27P1O5

Quote

 

....From humble roots as the son of a Turkish immigrant working at a Ford factory in Cologne, BioNTech Chief Executive Ugur Sahin, 55, now figures among the 100 richest Germans, together with his wife and fellow board member Oezlem Tuereci, 53, according to weekly Welt am Sonntag.

The market value of Nasdaq-listed BioNTech, which the pair co-founded, had ballooned to $21 billion as of Friday’s close from $4.6 billion a year ago, with the firm set to play a major role in mass immunisation against the coronavirus....

 

 

[Fragile Bird]

17 minutes ago, Zorral said:

https://www.reuters.com/article/health-coronavirus-biontech-ceo-newsmake/behind-pfizers-vaccine-an-understated-husband-and-wife-dream-team-idUSKBN27P1O5

 

Biontech is exactly the kind of high tech pharmaceutical company making people rich. The old guard companies have well-paid executives and staff, and pay dividends. They just don’t excite anyone.

But as was said above, congrats to Turkish immigrants in Germany! What a great dividend of another kind for that country, and what a loss for the US for the last four years that other Sahins may have decided to put roots down in more welcoming countries! (Including Canada!)

[Fragile Bird]

I just listened to President Elect Biden’s first coronavirus task force press conference! How wonderful to listen to an intelligent, compassionate leader again!

[Zorral]

4 minutes ago, Fragile Bird said:

But as was said above, congrats to Turkish immigrants in Germany! What a great dividend of another kind for that country, and what a loss for the US for the last four years that other Sahins may have decided to put roots down in more welcoming countries! (Including Canada!)

I've been thinking about all this all along too.  This country has always made its economy from immigration and the incredible work ethic and drive of the new citizens and their children -- not to mention everything else, such as in science, medicine, technology and the arts.  No matter what country of origin.

I'm still tearing up every time I think of the ICE incarceration camps and the prisoners working to express celebration about this election too.

 

[Larry of the Lawn]

Apparently Ben Carson tested positive for Covid.  Was at the WH on election night, not wearing a mask, of course.  

[Zorral]

Here's a detailed report on this vaccine.

https://www.nytimes.com/2020/11/09/health/covid-vaccine-pfizer.html?

Still a very long way to go, but less than before, maybe.

Can we have gotten hope on both political and virus fronts in the same 7-day period?

Covid-19 played a much bigger role in this election than some want to admit, it seems.  There's a story in the WaPo about this that includes a PA woman, very ill, going to be hospitalized, whose polling place and she her self took extreme cautions but she voted and handed in her ballot from outside the polling place -- and then went into the hospital, where the woman sharing her room died, and she nearly died.  She voted for Biden-Harris, of course.

What is not good news is that it's looking like the new wave is falling on NYC.  Even de Blasio is having to admit this.

https://www.nytimes.com/2020/11/09/nyregion/nyc-virus-spike.html?

Quote

 

The city’s contact tracing program has disclosed few details about which trends and patterns are contributing to transmission. But one city health official, who spoke on condition of anonymity to share details from internal discussions, said clusters had been traced to workplaces, including construction sites and offices.

City health officials and Mr. de Blasio’s aides have been discussing whether new citywide restrictions should be imposed, including a broader shutdown of nonessential businesses if the citywide, seven-day positivity rate average climbs, and stays, above 3 percent. The seven-day average was 2.21 percent, according to the city’s health department....

But there are some signs that Mr. de Blasio may be reluctant to impose new restrictions.

The mayor has previously said that indoor dining should be halted if the seven-day positivity rate reaches 2 percent — a threshold that has already been crossed without the mayor taking any action.

On Monday, the mayor would only say that it was time to re-evaluate the wisdom of allowing limited indoor dining.

The thing is that there are places all over the boroughs and NY state that have much higher rates than this and have been since the High Holy Days.

 

[Luzifer's right hand]

My region of Austria has now a positivity rate of ~50% and doctors are warning that the best possible care is not longer possible in hospitals(not just for Covid-19 cases). They openly said that they started recommending palliative care instead of the ICU for cases that they would not recommend it for normally. There is talk about doing a proper lockdown instead of the current lockdown light but it is probably too late for many people now. 

The worst health care crisis since WW 2 according to the head of one of the local hospitals.

[Impmk2]

6 hours ago, rotting sea cow said:

Yes, it's a logistical nightmare, even for developed countries. Vaccination can only take place at special facilities.

 

Just on this. Shipping medical supplies and short term (day or 2) storage on dry ice (below -70) is not an uncommon thing. So I'm not convinced vaccination could only occur at facilities with dedicated -80s.

Though yes the storage requirements does really make it a lot harder for remote and rural areas. 

[Fragile Bird]

5 minutes ago, Impmk2 said:

Just on this. Shipping medical supplies and short term (day or 2) storage on dry ice (below -70) is not an uncommon thing. So I'm not convinced vaccination could only occur at facilities with dedicated -80s.

Though yes the storage requirements does really make it a lot harder for remote and rural areas. 

Actually, I just saw a report on CNBC about Pfizer’s specialty shipping containers. They have their own logistics department, not using McKesson which company everybody else uses.

Their shipping containers contain multiple boxes and layers, and dry ice, and can keep the contents at -90 degrees for up to 10 days if left unopened. Incredible! I think they said the largest size can contain 5,000 doses.

[Zorral]

1 hour ago, Luzifer's right hand said:

My region of Austria has now a terecommendedingst positivity rate of ~50% and doctors are warning that the best possible care is not longer possible in hospitals(not just for Covid-19 cases). They openly said that they started recommending palliative care instead of the ICU for cases that they would not recommend it for normally. There is talk about doing a proper lockdown instead of the current lockdown light but it is probably too late for many people now. 

The worst health care crisis since WW 2 according to the head of one of the local hospitals.

That is awful.  Did people stop wearing masks in your country to, or just flat out refuse to wear masks or distance and insist in packing in groups close together and drinking inside and dancing, making music?  That's been going on here like crazy and we've got the most cases in the world.