Covid-19 #28: Astra Projecting is an Out of Body Experience

[Clueless Northman]

1 hour ago, Rippounet said:

And now, we're down to looking at how naive the EU was in the wording of its contract! I mean yeah, clearly the EU is a monster here, and the UK was really right in getting out while it still could!

Yeah, UK bamboozling EU out of millions of vaccine doses is peak Brexit, the hight tide of UK newly gained independence. That's the new Battle of Britain. Glorious victory indeed. This time, it will be hard to sell it outside of anglo history textbooks.

 

1 hour ago, Zorral said:

Indeed, and the CDC is in a state of depression about it, because this rise all has to do with people not observing masking indoors and person-to-person indoor gatherings

To be frank, this has been the root cause of all surges since December across most if not all Western countries, beginning with the British Dec-Jan one. It's particularly astounding with the USA, since the country is vaccinating people at quite a high rate, yet it seems that people just can't wait a few more weeks and have to act stupid right now, when victory is in sight. Amazing short-sightedness when you consider most of Europe and Canada won't be in such a rosy situation before June.

[Zorral]

3 minutes ago, Clueless Northman said:

To be frank, this has been the root cause of all surges since December across most if not all Western countries, beginning with the British Dec-Jan one. It's particularly astounding with the USA, since the country is vaccinating people at quite a high rate, yet it seems that people just can't wait a few more weeks and have to act stupid right now, when victory is in sight. Amazing short-sightedness when you consider most of Europe and Canada won't be in such a rosy situation before June.

You are aware, presumably, you are preaching to one of the choirs who have been singing this chorus for over a year.

[Clueless Northman]

Sometimes, echo-chambering helps to keep one's mind a tiny bit sane

[Zorral]

9 minutes ago, Clueless Northman said:

Sometimes, echo-chambering helps to keep one's mind a tiny bit sane

[KingintheNorth4]

I just got back from the University of Chicago Medical Center with my Uncle and Grandmother. They had their second vaccine appointment and my Uncle isn't strong enough to push my Grandmother around in a wheelchair which is why I was asked to come. Besides the stop and go traffic on the Dan Ryan coming back, everything went smoothly.

There's gonna be a vaccine site opening up in the parking lot of a former Toys R Us. I'm gonna see if I can get an appointment there.

[Fragile Bird]

On 3/27/2021 at 6:26 PM, williamjm said:

Have we really managed to make it through an entire day without a headline news story about the AZ vaccine?

Canada has paused the use of the AZ vaccine in people under the age of 55. Consultations are being held with the European agency and others.

Just when we are going to receive 1.5 M doses from the US.

[Mr. Chatywin et al.]

So @Fragile Bird, taking a victory lap on not trusting Dr. Birx at all?

The lies these fucks knowingly sold should come with a price, given how many people died. And a fat orange man should be forever seen as the guiltiest of parties. 

[Padraig]

1 hour ago, Fragile Bird said:

Canada has paused the use of the AZ vaccine in people under the age of 55. Consultations are being held with the European agency and others.

Just when we are going to receive 1.5 M doses from the US.

Oh no.

https://www.cbc.ca/news/health/canada-suspends-astrazeneca-vaccine-covid-19-1.5968657

I  was trying to understand what Canada was thinking based on the above article.  What has changed since the EU suspension?  The attached talks about info from Germany but I don't know how much of that is new cases (since the EU relaxed things again).

It was previously mentioned here that the German health people had thought they had worked out a treatment.  The above article mentions a 40% fatality (on very few cases) but again, is that the very latest trends?  That would otherwise suggest any treatment is faltering.

[JGP]

1 hour ago, Fragile Bird said:

Canada has paused the use of the AZ vaccine in people under the age of 55. Consultations are being held with the European agency and others.

Just when we are going to receive 1.5 M doses from the US.

My brother, a doctor, texted me three days ago and told me to pass on AZ [if that's what's on offer] when my turn comes up. My blood likes to clot already. 

[Zorral]

2 hours ago, KingintheNorth4 said:

There's gonna be a vaccine site opening up in the parking lot of a former Toys R Us. I'm gonna see if I can get an appointment there.

I hope so -- soon!  And how heartening that you are such a willing grandson to chauffeur your grandmother's wheel chair.  We've done that sometimes, and learned a whole lot about wheel chair access and what people in chairs, powered or not, have to put up with to do the least thing.

~~~~~~~

Money, money, who continued to grow wealth in this pandemic:

https://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-economy-wealth-idUSKBN2BL1BL?

Quote

 

By Howard Schneider

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Crammed between the cultural extremes of the baby boomers and the millennials, members of Generation X saw their wealth jump during the Trump administration and through the coronavirus pandemic as they hit their prime earning years during a record bull market for stocks.

Recent Federal Reserve data showed Gen Xers, which the U.S. central bank defines as those currently between the ages of 40 and 55, passed a major milestone late last year: Their share of household net worth, at 26.9%, passed the generation’s roughly 26.8% share of households.

A byproduct of population aging as the World War Two-era Silent Generation and the boomers who followed both decline as a share of households, the shift nonetheless marks a passing of the torch of sorts. In short, Gen X is now the ascendant generation, in terms of wealth.

Moreover, Gen Xers are emerging from the pandemic more flush than when it began, and with most of them still looking ahead to two more decades of peak earnings....

 

 

[Fragile Bird]

36 minutes ago, Padraig said:

Oh no.

https://www.cbc.ca/news/health/canada-suspends-astrazeneca-vaccine-covid-19-1.5968657

I  was trying to understand what Canada was thinking based on the above article.  What has changed since the EU suspension?  The attached talks about info from Germany but I don't know how much of that is new cases (since the EU relaxed things again).

It was previously mentioned here that the German health people had thought they had worked out a treatment.  The above article mentions a 40% fatality (on very few cases) but again, is that the very latest trends?  That would otherwise suggest any treatment is faltering.

I just saw the press conference from British Columbia, where I heard the news. I’ve been doing a massive spring cleaning and hadn’t watched the news all day. If I see more details in a story I’ll post it.

[The Sunland Lord]

I've had the AZ first dose on Saturday. Mild side effects so far, getting better.

[IheartIheartTesla]

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2021/mar/29/johnson-and-johnson-covid-vaccine-stem-cells-michigan-law

Quote

Residents of Michigan receiving the Johnson & Johnson Covid-19 vaccine must be told it was developed using a stem cell line originating from an aborted human fetus, according to a state law passed by Republicans.

Its late in the day, and the article keeps switching back and forth between bill and law so it isnt clear if this is actually the latter; however, I did notice on the Michigan gov website a PDF about exactly this. The Michigan Catholic Conference hasnt helped matters either. Anyway, the good news is the J&J vaccine is about 75k out of 3.5 M......

Edit: I almost forgot to add that this is why the GoP is evil.

[S John]

My wife got her first dose today and my dad gets his first tomorrow. My sister had her first shot last week, and my grandparents and mother are now fully vaccinated. I am trying to get an appointment for myself but you can only book one day in advance at the local hospital and I need to find a day when I’m both free for that day and free a month from now (locally available one seems to be the 28 day moderna). But basically myself and my brother in law are the only two adult members of my immediate family who won’t be at least partially vaccinated come tomorrow. And we probably won’t be too far behind so that is great news!

My wife said the atmosphere at the hospital was almost jubilant. In my area they’ve done the essential workers and at risk seniors so she said it was mainly young people.

[Starkess]

Still no vaccine available for me (Phase 2 in Chicago), but we got an email today that the university expects to be fully open for fall quarter (basically Oct 1). So that's something to look forward to!

[Prince of the North]

26 minutes ago, S John said:

My wife got her first dose today and my dad gets his first tomorrow. My sister had her first shot last week, and my grandparents and mother are now fully vaccinated. I am trying to get an appointment for myself but you can only book one day in advance at the local hospital and I need to find a day when I’m both free for that day and free a month from now (locally available one seems to be the 28 day moderna). But basically myself and my brother in law are the only two adult members of my immediate family who won’t be at least partially vaccinated come tomorrow. And we probably won’t be too far behind so that is great news!

My wife said the atmosphere at the hospital was almost jubilant. In my area they’ve done the essential workers and at risk seniors so she said it was mainly young people.

My wife and I got the Moderna vaccine, too.  We should be getting the second dose in about a week.  I usually have some soreness around the injection site for a couple of days after receiving the flu vaccine (I use this as a sort of frame of reference) and I also had soreness around the injection site with the Moderna vaccine.  But it was about five times worse and lasted about a week.  But that was it so, all in all, not bad at all.

[Kalbear]

Got my first shot - two of four adults in the house down. Now just have to get them done, then all the cats, all the dogs, possibly the ducks

[Mudguard]

On 3/28/2021 at 5:35 AM, Padraig said:

Do you have to pick a technology for that?  mRNAs are the way to go?  I imagine it would be challenging to switch production to a recombinant nanoparticle vaccine?  Or maybe not.  Spreading out vaccine production more does seem to be worthwhile but probably very expensive.  Especially given all these different approaches.

No, not technology specific.  mRNA vaccines could be one site, viral vector vaccines (i.e., AZ vaccine, J&J vaccine, etc.) could be another site, etc., and there could be a single fill and finish site.  Since these are largely separate processes that require their own equipment and expertise, it's probably not too expensive to set up separate sites for each.  Many companies are set up this way already anyway, and I believe that many of the coronavirus vaccines are already being made using multiple sites.  There might be some added transportation costs and time added to the process, but it's not too bad.

 

On 3/28/2021 at 7:30 AM, Clueless Northman said:

That's why you shouldn't just make the patent public. The entire process should be publicly described so that it could be replicated by other countries.

This is a nonstarter from a company's point of view.  I'm 99.9% sure that virtually all companies would refuse to comply with such a request.  And if they refuse, what leverage does a country have?  Individually, very little.  You can refuse to let them sell their vaccine in your country, but that would be cutting off your nose to spite your face.  The trade secrets and know-how are often used in many products, not just with the one vaccine you are interested in, and once made public, these types of IP are gone forever.  Unlike with patent rights, there is no temporary suspension.  

Let's say the whole world was on board with this and passed laws requiring public disclosure of the entire process, suspension of patent rights, etc. during a pandemic.  Right now, companies would just refuse to comply because they have all the leverage.  They know countries are desperate for vaccines, and no one is going to refuse delivery.  You would essentially have to go in with force to seize the information. 

If this happened or somehow through other means the information was obtain, going forward, what company is going to sink hundreds of millions of dollars to develop a product that is going to be given away to everyone else?  Not many, and it would be left mostly to national institutions funded by the public to develop these types of vaccines during a pandemic.  There's nothing wrong with public institutions doing this type of work, but I don't think we would be better off by essentially ending private development in this area.

[Mr. Chatywin et al.]

This seems stranger than @Karlbear vaccinating his ducks:

Quote

Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell on Monday encouraged "all Republican men" to get the Covid-19 vaccine, as new polls indicate many in the group are skeptical of getting the shot.

"I can say as a Republican man, as soon as it was my turn, I took the vaccine. I would encourage all Republican men to do that," said McConnell, a Kentucky Republican, on Monday, when asked what kind of messaging he can push as the GOP leader to help encourage people, specifically Republican men, that the vaccine is safe and they should get it.

 

McConnell added that there is "no good argument not to get the vaccination. I would encourage all men regardless of party affiliation to get the vaccination," at a news conference in Hazard, Kentucky, outside a health care clinic for an event focusing on the state's vaccination efforts.

 

In a CNN poll released earlier this month, 92% of Democrats said they had gotten a dose of the vaccine or planned to get one, while just 50% of Republicans said the same. That same poll found that 46% of Republicans said that they won't try to get a vaccine. Similarly, a PBS NewsHour/NPR/Marist poll conducted this month, 49% of Republican men in the US say they don't plan to get vaccinated for Covid-19.

 

 

https://www.cnn.com/2021/03/29/politics/mitch-mcconnell-covid-19-vaccine-republican-men/index.html

[Fragile Bird]

1 hour ago, IheartIheartTesla said:

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2021/mar/29/johnson-and-johnson-covid-vaccine-stem-cells-michigan-law

Its late in the day, and the article keeps switching back and forth between bill and law so it isnt clear if this is actually the latter; however, I did notice on the Michigan gov website a PDF about exactly this. The Michigan Catholic Conference hasnt helped matters either. Anyway, the good news is the J&J vaccine is about 75k out of 3.5 M......

Edit: I almost forgot to add that this is why the GoP is evil.

I’m a Catholic and I think that’s evil. Even the pope said it was fine to take the vaccine. Many American Catholics, I find, are really hard right wingers.