Covid 19-31 The Mutants Are Coming

[williamjm]

10 hours ago, Padraig said:

Interesting.  It begs the question about how many people who have this variant have been vaccinated.  And if they have been vaccinated, how bad were their symthoms.  The story doesn't give many details.  There has been a slight uptake in overall cases in the UK but the overall number is very low, so its hard to know whether that is just a blip.

I saw a story earlier that most of the people in Bolton (which seems to have the biggest outbreak in the UK) who had caught the Indian variant were under 25, so it's likely most of them weren't vaccinated yet.

[Zorral]

36 minutes ago, Mlle. Zabzie said:

I have my Excelsior Pass!

Excellent (though They Say it can be forged digitally in about 20 seconds -- it is digital to start with -- I dunno).

In the meantime media wannabe pundits desperate to get in print, followed, etc. now accuse fully vaccinated double-masked me walking about outdoors of being addicted to masking and virtue shaming.   Evidently it has never occurred to these shallow souled and ignorant minded dumbasses that I am walking outdoors at THIS MOMENT but in another THREE MOMENTS I shall enter a store.  Masking is still mandatory for entering public indoor spaces.  I am SHOPPING!  Hooray (also cognitive dissonance since I am shopping in real stores while much of the world burns and chokes to death from covid -- with variants emerging every day, which may or may not turn out immune to the vaccines).  It's all so weird.

I do double-mask, as recommended if only to reassure the people working in those stores that I at least am not breathing on them.  Additionally putting on masks when one has long hair, earrings and glasses, to be sure they are seated properly and comfortably isn't a quick, single move.  So when I'm masked, I stay masked, until I come in and wash.

But the garbage idiots sit around and dream up to get incensed about -- vaccinated people wearing masks outdoors  has got to be among the dumbest ever.

[Padraig]

Given COVID is still prevalent in the US and Germany, mobile people who interact with a lot of other people, even if vaccinated, are going to get COVID.  That's not a surprise.  Now, if they get a bad dose of COVID, that would be more of a story.

Interestingly, officials in the EU have confirmed that no blood clotting events had been reported in relation to the Johnson & Johnson vaccine so far.  Apparently, 2.3m doses of the J&J vaccine have been administered since the vaccine was approved.  Now, there is a lag effect between administration and affliction but it does add to the US data, which suggested that this blood disorder isn't as common as the AZ issue.  

Ireland still hasn't decided whether to give it to those under 50.  So that may help.

[Fragile Bird]

23 minutes ago, Padraig said:

Given COVID is still prevalent in the US and Germany, mobile people who interact with a lot of other people, even if vaccinated, are going to get COVID.  That's not a surprise.  Now, if they get a bad dose of COVID, that would be more of a story.

Interestingly, officials in the EU have confirmed that no blood clotting events had been reported in relation to the Johnson & Johnson vaccine so far.  Apparently, 2.3m doses of the J&J vaccine have been administered since the vaccine was approved.  Now, there is a lag effect between administration and affliction but it does add to the US data, which suggested that this blood disorder isn't as common as the AZ issue.  

Ireland still hasn't decided whether to give it to those under 50.  So that may help.

The numbers in the US were revised and I did the math, it’s a blood clot in 1 out of every 310,000 doses of J&J administered.

[Kalbear]

12 year old signed up for Pfizer on Friday!

[Mr. Chatywin et al.]

You like carrots, @Mlle. Zabzie? How do you like them carrots?:

Quote

Five vaccinated Ohioans will win $1 million each through a new lottery announced Wednesday, in one of the largest financial incentives announced by a state to combat declining demand for the COVID-19 vaccine.

Starting May 26, the state will award $1 million each week to an adult who has received at least the first dose of the COVID-19 vaccine, Gov. Mike DeWine said. There will be five total drawings.

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

The state will also hold a weekly lottery starting May 26 for those 17 and younger who have gotten the COVID-19 vaccine. Five winners will receive a full, four-year scholarship to a State of Ohio university, which includes tuition, room-and-board and books, DeWine announced.

https://abcnews.go.com/US/ohio-give-people-million-covid-19-vaccine-lottery/story?id=77656133

[S John]

41 minutes ago, Tywin et al. said:

 

https://abcnews.go.com/US/ohio-give-people-million-covid-19-vaccine-lottery/story?id=77656133

This is a fucking great idea.

[Mr. Chatywin et al.]

15 minutes ago, S John said:

This is a fucking great idea.

My first thought was let the states cover the tab for the youth scholarship lotteries, but yo, federal government, appropriate a few billion dollars and do this nation wide and have five weeks of lottery winners for each Congressional District. 

[A True Kaniggit]

Jean-yes. 

But my insane aunt lives in West Virginia. That state needs to do something similar.  

[Mlle. Zabzie]

57 minutes ago, S John said:

This is a fucking great idea.

It’s an amazing idea.  I’m all for it.

[Padraig]

10 hours ago, Fragile Bird said:

The numbers in the US were revised and I did the math, it’s a blood clot in 1 out of every 310,000 doses of J&J administered.

Thanks.  There is still a gap with AZ but it has closed.  And my EU figure is a bit meaningless without age demographics.  Especially as there was a tendency to not give it to those that are most at risk in Europe.

I wonder what it would take for them to put a gender restriction (although, IIRC, J&J is much more lopsided than AZ).

[JoannaL]

Here are the first results from the British study mixing vaccines (either AZ then Biontech, or the other way around):

https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PIIS0140-6736(21)01115-6/fulltext

"Pending availability of a more complete safety dataset and immunogenicity results for heterologous prime-boost schedules (to be reported shortly), these data suggest that the two heterologous vaccine schedules in this trial might have some short-term disadvantages. Routine prophylactic use of paracetamol after immunisation could help mitigate these

 Regardless, it is reassuring that all reactogenicity symptoms were short lived, and there were no concerns from the limited haematology and biochemistry data available. Further studies evaluating heterologous prime-boost schedules, incorporating vaccines manufactured by Moderna and Novavax, are ongoing, and are crucial to informing the appropriateness of mixed COVID-19 vaccine schedules."

 

so, no bad side effects but more "normal" side effects than otherwise.

[IheartIheartTesla]

I'm not as big a fan of the lottery idea as others. Instead of a chance to win money, getting guaranteed money sounds like a better option (might have to tie it to income). Of course, a bit of thought has to be applied as to how to enforce no gaming of the system, but the GoP with its incessant focus on ID should be able to figure something out.

[Fragile Bird]

Back in January I posted about people suggesting incentives to make sure people got vaccinated, and the reaction, it you recall, was “no way”.

Has it really come to this? A chance to win a million if you get vaccinated? Not a chance, but five chances!

It’s like those memes that pop-up on Facebook, “would you run through the shopping mall naked for $50 M?” I’d have thought people would run through the mall naked for $10,000, or even $1,000.

[Which Tyler]

37 minutes ago, Fragile Bird said:

Back in January I posted about people suggesting incentives to make sure people got vaccinated, and the reaction, it you recall, was “no way”.

Has it really come to this? A chance to win a million if you get vaccinated? Not a chance, but five chances!

It’s like those memes that pop-up on Facebook, “would you run through the shopping mall naked for $50 M?” I’d have thought people would run through the mall naked for $10,000, or even $1,000.

Hell, I'm sure we all know someone that would run naked through a supermarked for 6 beers - or at least, after 6 beers

[Zorral]

Vaccination incentive/award is unfair, discriminatory, and RONG! because I am already vaccinated, I don't get to compete for the opportunity to win a million buckaroos.      It's just too MEEEEEEEEAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAN to MEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE. Imma gonna Tell. On Twitter. You'll see!

  

[horangi]

12 hours ago, Tywin et al. said:

My first thought was let the states cover the tab for the youth scholarship lotteries, but yo, federal government, appropriate a few billion dollars and do this nation wide and have five weeks of lottery winners for each Congressional District. 

Yeah- in the bigger scheme, this is such a cheap option for the potential impact.  Heck you could do 10 lucky winners for each congressional district every week for a month and you still have a price tag under 2 billion (in-state tuition).  (the terrible side effect is you also get college education to 17k students, and we wouldnt want that now, would we?)

[Zorral]

"New York Yankees Somehow Have 7 COVID Cases in Vaccinated Staff"

It's a mystery.

https://nymag.com/intelligencer/2021/05/yankees-somehow-have-seven-covid-cases-in-vaccinated-staff.html

Quote

 

....If a team’s traveling party numbers in the several dozen, seven positive cases would be orders of magnitude higher than the breakthrough rate in the non-pinstripe population: According to CDC data from April 15, 5,800 Americans had contracted the coronavirus despite being fully vaccinated, out of a population of 77 million people who had received their full dosage.

Major League Baseball has provided incentives for players to get vaccinated, including the relaxing of pandemic restrictions if teams get at least 85 percent of their group of staff and players who travel to away games to get their shots. At least ten teams, including the Yankees, have reached that mark as of Wednesday, allowing players to take off their masks in the dugout and bullpen; dine indoors; and stop participating in the league’s contact-tracing program.

Over the two pandemic seasons, some players have been reluctant to adhere to coronavirus protocols. During the final game of the World Series, Los Angeles Dodgers third baseman Justin Turner violated league rules when he celebrated on the field after he was pulled in the seventh inning when he was notified of a positive coronavirus test. On the day after the season began, New York Mets third baseman J.D. Davis said that he hadn’t “really thought about” whether or not he’d get a vaccine. Philadelphia Phillies reliever Hector Neris said days later that he did not want to “get a shot, not right now.” ....

 

 

[Fragile Bird]

Up to 7, now? That's really astonishing. Either that, or somebody has been lying about getting vaccinated? Or do they all have some new NY variant that is more infectious? With a double vaccine there's supposed to be 95% efficacy, after all. And the statistic is, after all, 5,800 infections out of 77 M vaccinated....

[Zorral]

Free beer after being vaccinated in the local bar is the best incentive for vaccination -- at least in NY state.

https://slate.com/human-interest/2021/05/vaccine-free-beer-bar-covid.html

Quote

 

.... Aymann Ismail: So who said, “Let’s just give them free beer!”

Dr. Gale Burstein: Our county executive Mark Poloncarz developed this idea. It comes from a Buffalo tradition where many times when people go out and drink, they’ll drink a shot of hard liquor and they’ll chase it down with a beer. That’s a common kind of alcohol order. Mark thought of a shot and a chaser vaccine clinic, where if people received a shot of COVID-19 vaccine, they could get a pint of beer as chaser.

Did everyone go, “Oh, yeah, good idea”?  

We were optimistic that offering the vaccine in a familiar environment, and giving them something that they want, in addition to getting protected from COVID-19, would work. People in their 20s and 30s is an age group where we haven’t had as high a penetration for the COVID-19 vaccine, or as high as we would like. Also, that is the age groups where we’re seeing the highest number of new COVID-19 infections now. So we’re just trying to be playful, make it fun for people. We’ve given much of the Erie County population their first dose already. Now it’s time that we be creative to meet people where they are, to entice them and excite them to get a vaccine. We know that many people that age, on a weekend, especially the rare sunny Sunday afternoon in Buffalo in May, go to a brewery to have a beer or wine. We were able to vaccinate almost 150 people that afternoon with COVID-19 vaccine.

Did you hear people talk about why they hadn’t gotten the shot yet?

I was one of the vaccinators. People told us that they had been thinking about it, but it wasn’t a priority Now we were giving them something that they liked in a place where they like to go. So they thought, “Why not? I’ll do it.” People told me they were excited—that they weren’t planning to get a vaccine but did want one. Or they hadn’t made a solid plan. There were some people who had questions, and I was there to answer those questions. And so this was the tipping point that changed their mind and motivated them to get a vaccine that day. We were also able to get people that work at the restaurant, the kitchen and the brewery, who hadn’t planned on getting vaccinated. We made it easy for them. It just takes a few minutes just to get the vaccine. We watched them for 15 minutes, and then they’re good to go.

Was anyone still reluctant when you approached them?

There were a few times during the clinic when I took a break from vaccinating, and went around to the different tables in the Brewery and introduced myself, “Hi, I’m Dr. Gale Burstein for the Erie County Health Department. Just wondering if anybody would be interested in getting a free COVID-19 vaccine today and a free pint of beer to ensure you enjoy your afternoon.” And at one table everybody said, “Oh, we’ve all been vaccinated already.” And then one person said, “Well, I haven’t been vaccinated yet.” And I said, “Hey, come on. You could do it right now, and you can have a beer on us.” She said, “I’m not sure.” And everybody else in the table went “Come on, you have to get vaccinated too! Be safe with us!” They kept encouraging her. And, finally, she conceded to peer pressure and followed me over to that portion of the Brewery where we were operating the vaccine clinic. I promised, “I’m the Erie County Health Commissioner and I will vaccinate you myself.” And I did....