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

[Filippa Eilhart]

It's still interesting why Poland hasn't seen any cases. I tried to look at the side effects report but it doesn't tell you the age or which vaccine was used. However it seems there has been only one case of this specific blood clot, and they administered over a million AZ doses.

[rotting sea cow]

There is a good write up about the issue in the Science Magazine

https://www.sciencemag.org/news/2021/03/rare-clotting-disorder-may-cloud-worlds-hopes-astrazenecas-covid-19-vaccine

Regarding Argentina. I was wrong. They have about 3.3 millions Sputnik doses (not 5), about a millon Sinopharms and 600 thousands from AZ.

From what I see in newspapers, there is a lot of disorganization and even corruption in the distribution of the vaccines. Doses being stolen, others being sent to wrong places, politicians jumping lines and vaccinating their teams, people divided by party lines and refusing vaccination because they don't like the government, etc. I cannot find evidence of severe problems, a handful were hospitalized for things that may or not be related to the vaccine, like one case of deep vein thrombosis and another of an severe infection at the site. It seems that the side effects affect a smaller percentage of the population than reported by other vaccine makers. I sent an email to an old friend to see if he knows something.

 

[Fragile Bird]

Pfizer just announced that their Phase 3 with children has shown their vaccine to have 100% efficacy in children aged 12 to 15.

Remember I said the US wouldn’t allow any exports of vaccine until they have 160 M doses set aside for kids? Pfizer expects vaccination can start before the school year begins, which would be July.

Yesterday I watched a story about the first two children between the age of 6 and 11 in the US being vaccinated with the Moderna vaccine. That trial is going on in the US and Canada (not sure if other countries as well). The study is ‘open faced’, I think they called it, for the first 750 participants, meaning they know they have received the vaccine and not a placebo.

I also saw a story that Israel is buying millions more doses for vaccinating it’s children and for booster shots. The purchase has been held up for the moment because of the political situation (not enough seats won by the incumbents to form a government). The information from Israel, according to Dr. Gottlieb on CNBC just now, is that the rate of infection in children falls together with the rate of infection in adults who have been vaccinated, so the key to preventing children from getting infected is vaccinating the adults. Makes sense.

I wonder if Israel gets to jump ahead of Europe in receiving those doses, getting vaccine before all European adults are vaccinated. I always thought the story about Israel being a test case for a whole country being vaccinated was a story cooked up (even though it’s a good story) to excuse Israel getting all their vaccine ahead of everyone else, because they paid twice as much as everyone else. Money talks.

[Padraig]

1 hour ago, rotting sea cow said:

There is a good write up about the issue in the Science Magazine

https://www.sciencemag.org/news/2021/03/rare-clotting-disorder-may-cloud-worlds-hopes-astrazenecas-covid-19-vaccine

That is a good summary.  I suppose, even with a treatment, patients must admit themselves in time.

And yes, good news on the Pfizer vaccine front.  Anything that close to 100% efficacy is great.

[Pebble thats Stubby]

8 hours ago, Tears of Lys said:

Has anyone blamed you yet for this, Pod?

If not, I hereby do. 

 

I think its rather unfair to blame Pod for Covid.  I mean he likes going to Con's and meet ups and works in an airport.  (Global travel being rather essential for his Job)   

 

Pod may be lovable and Evil, but he's not into self harming.

[Zorral]

4 hours ago, Fragile Bird said:

. I always thought the story about Israel being a test case for a whole country being vaccinated was a story cooked up (even though it’s a good story) to excuse Israel getting all their vaccine ahead of everyone else, because they paid twice as much as everyone else. Money talks.

And wins elections.  I.e. the politicization of the pandemic.

[A Horse Named Stranger]

Regarding Sputnik V. As far as I know Putin has not taken the vaccine himself. So I am not exactly sure it is as good as advertised or is a bit heavy on the side effect side. Quite a few Russians are also not sold on it. So this the one vaccine I'd feel a wee bit uncomfortable with as of now. Ok, AZ, is also raising a few questions. But that's less the blood clots, but more the efficacy against some variants of the virus, like the South African strain.

 

[Fragile Bird]

@Padraig I am going to link an article in the Toronto Globe & Mail about the situation with regard to the AZ vaccine, but I'm not sure if it's behind a paywall for you. I'll quote a part of it as well.

Quote

NACI recommended the pause after more data emerged from Europe over the weekend of March 27 and 28 suggesting that an extremely rare and potentially deadly clotting disorder may be linked to the AstraZeneca vaccine.

..................................................

So what changed over the last weekend of March? New German-led research, published online and still undergoing peer review, found the post-vaccination clots were comparable to those caused by a disorder that is known to sometimes occur in reaction to the blood thinner heparin.

In all of the four post-vaccination cases for which the research team had access to blood samples, a test identified antibodies similar to those found in people suffering from the heparin-induced version of the illness. The study team dubbed the new version vaccine-induced prothrombotic immune thrombocytopenia, or VIPIT.

It’s important to note, however, that other experts have argued the German research doesn’t definitively prove the vaccine is to blame.

With scientists having described a plausible mechanism that could link the AstraZeneca shot to the rare clotting disorder, NACI decided to take action. The chief medical officers of health for every province and territory met virtually on Sunday night and agreed to follow NACI’s advice.

Quote

WHY HAS THE AGE CUT-OFF BEEN SET AT 55?

There are two reasons, both having to do with risk. So far, VIPIT cases in people older than 55 have been extremely rare, despite most of the tens of millions of AstraZeneca doses injected in Europe and Britain going into the arms of seniors.

The risk of serious illness and death due to COVID-19, on the other hand, rises sharply with age. Shelley Deeks, the vice-chair of NACI, told a news conference Monday that it made sense to keep giving the AstraZeneca shot to the population most in danger from the virus, especially with more lethal variants spreading and the third wave escalating.

For people younger than 55, the calculation is more complex. At first, regulators in Europe estimated the risk of the syndrome now known as VIPIT at one case per million vaccinations, Dr. Deeks explained. “As the time has progressed, we’ve seen more cases that have been identified in Europe and the rate has been identified as 1 per 100,000 in Germany,” Dr. Deeks said. “Where the true rate is, we just don’t know at this point in time.”

Of the VIPIT cases that have been identified so far, 40 per cent have been fatal. Given that, Dr. Deeks said NACI decided to err on the side of caution and direct younger people to the mRNA vaccines made by Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna, neither of which have been associated with the clotting disorder. The mRNA vaccines make up the vast majority of Canada’s supply.

https://www.theglobeandmail.com/canada/article-astrazeneca-covid-19-vaccine-has-been-approved-but-for-how-long-and/

[A Horse Named Stranger]

On 3/28/2021 at 8:47 PM, Clueless Northman said:

At some point, the Union will have to seriously reconsider which countries it considers to be its friends, because the 2 major ones definitely don't act like friends, more like hostile powers.

Off topic rant coming. Sorry in advance.

Statements like this, let's just say they point to a different reality.

Sure, we can have a discussion about our (EU) relationship with Russia. But then we should take a good look at Russian actions.

The past few years:

Russia actively helped to get a racist into the White House, which effectively weakened the EU. It also helped with the Brexit campaign. Which again, was not really in our interest.

It comitted one assasination in Germany, and attempted another one on British soil before that.

And we are not even talking about human rights violation within Russia, the participation in a war and annexation of parts of another nation (Crimea/Ukraine), and their active engagement in Syria.

We can and should have a discussion about the future role of the EU and its relationship with other super powers (China and the US). But surely the answer is not to attach oneself to a flailing hostile power with an authotarian leader.

[HexMachina]

Got my first vaccine today (Astra Zeneca). Was a very efficient setup at my local vaccine centre (very local, it is literally at the end of my street). Second appointment booked for June.

[Altherion]

New York finally lowered the age of eligibility (as of yesterday, it's 30 and next week it's going down to 16) so I got my first Pfizer dose today. Scheduling the appointment on the next day was a bit of a challenge, but it only required about an hour of refreshing the various websites to do it. The appointment itself was fairly quick -- the registration, waiting in line and vaccine itself took maybe 25 minutes altogether and there was another 15 minutes for observation. They also automatically scheduled the second dose appointment in 3 weeks which wasn't the case back when my father got vaccinated.

I'm pretty impressed by the rate at which the US has rolled out the vaccines. I certainly did not expect to get my first dose in March -- granted, on the last day of March, but I'm not in any of the special categories and I work from home so I figured people like me would be waiting until May.

[Zorral]

This report confirms what we've been writing here: while it's very difficult to nigh impossible for many to get appointments in "blue" regions, in the red ones, vaccinations go begging.  So more and more people are taking their elderly parents and themselves there.

https://www.thedailybeast.com/vaccine-hunters-target-trump-counties-for-easy-appointments?

The danger is venturing into these communities where they are violently anti-masking, while those coming in are the only ones who are masked.

 

[Fragile Bird]

16 minutes ago, Zorral said:

This report confirms what we've been writing here: while it's very difficult to nigh impossible for many to get appointments in "blue" regions, in the red ones, vaccinations go begging.  So more and more people are taking their elderly parents and themselves there.

https://www.thedailybeast.com/vaccine-hunters-target-trump-counties-for-easy-appointments?

The danger is venturing into these communities where they are violently anti-masking, while those coming in are the only ones who are masked.

 

You are going to have to start quoting from that site, it’s behind a paywall now.

[williamjm]

2 hours ago, A Horse Named Stranger said:

Regarding Sputnik V. As far as I know Putin has not taken the vaccine himself. So I am not exactly sure it is as good as advertised or is a bit heavy on the side effect side. Quite a few Russians are also not sold on it. So this the one vaccine I'd feel a wee bit uncomfortable with as of now. Ok, AZ, is also raising a few questions. But that's less the blood clots, but more the efficacy against some variants of the virus, like the South African strain.

I might be misremembering but was there a news story about Putin getting the vaccine, but privately so we just have to take his word for it that he's been vaccinated with Sputnik?

[DireWolfSpirit]

I believe Wisconsin and Michigan are due to be lowering their age for vaccine eligibility on April 5th or 6th to everyone 16 yrs old and up. 

Finally I will become elgible, now just need to hunt down a opening for my jab!

[JGP]

I had to go to the pharmacy today to pick up my anticoagulant refill, and while doing so asked whether they were getting into the vaccination program. Lady in charge said they had already, but only for people who qualify, and I was all, well, I read the priorities for Phase 2B that starts tomorrow and I don't know if I meet the requirements or not, to which she pulled me aside and asked about my issues [two PEs in 8 years, anticoagulants for life] while also perusing my on file stuff, and... she said I qualified for Phase 2B and while it officially starts tomorrow do I want to come in later this afternoon for my first Pfizer jab. 

And boy, I got like emotional. 

4:30 today.  

[Zorral]

13 minutes ago, JEORDHl said:

I had to go to the pharmacy today to pick up my anticoagulant refill, and while doing so asked whether they were getting into the vaccination program. Lady in charge said they had already, but only for people who qualify, and I was all, well, I read the priorities for Phase 2B that starts tomorrow and I don't know if I meet the requirements or not, to which she pulled me aside and asked about my issues [two PEs in 8 years, anticoagulants for life] while also perusing my on file stuff, and... she said I qualified for Phase 2B and while it officially starts tomorrow do I want to come in later this afternoon for my first Pfizer jab. 

And boy, I got like emotional. 

4:30 today.  

No wonder!  O my!  So happy on your behalf!

[JGP]

7 minutes ago, Zorral said:

No wonder!  O my!  So happy on your behalf!

Thanks lol

I more or less thought I was doing ok with self imposed lockdown [over a year now, left the house for necessities only] but the wave of relief. I honestly can't describe it.  

 

[Fragile Bird]

24 minutes ago, JEORDHl said:

Thanks lol

I more or less thought I was doing ok with self imposed lockdown [over a year now, left the house for necessities only] but the wave of relief. I honestly can't describe it.  

 

The pharmacies here only do the AZ vaccine. Tomorrow, if all goes to plan, the category is supposed to expand to include "high risk individuals", which includes kidney disease. While my condition has been stable for some years now, if that happens I'll be all over it. My brother is 70 and qualifies for a vaccination but the lists were full. He is adamant that he won't get the AZ vaccine, and considering the mRNA vaccines are supposed to be for older individuals with weaker immune systems I don't blame him. They supposedly open up at midnight tonight and hopefully we can get appointments.

Mayor Tory wants the age dropped to 60 from 70 for Toronto residents and apparently Premier Ford is amenable to it, but who knows when they'll do that. I fear we'll never get an appointment if that happens soon. Toronto has administered 500,000 doses and the mayor wants another 500,000 done ASAP, to reduce the infection numbers. However, we haven't really administered 500,000 doses because so many essential workers come into the city from the surrounding regions and have received vaccinations at the workplace, like hospitals and care homes. The mayor has been demanding extra vaccine doses for the Toronto health district because so many have gone to out-of-towners, but good luck with that.

[Larry of the Lawn]

Feeling pretty grateful today, was able to get my first shot.  Had to drive 2+ hours to get it but I'm glad I did.  About to email my reps again and ask them to push for making the US do what it can to vaccinate the entire world asap.