COVID's vaccine, by whom, when, effective? all around the vaccine

[Like_It_Hot]

UK regulator approves AstraZeneca vaccine
The United Kingdom on Wednesday become the first country to approve the coronavirus vaccine developed by Oxford University and AstraZeneca. The shot is cheaper and easier to distribute than alternatives, and is expected to play a crucial role in boosting the global economy next year.

AstraZeneca said the first doses were being released Wednesday, and that vaccinations will begin early in the New Year. The rollout comes amid a dramatic surge in coronavirus cases in the United Kingdom.

"This regimen was shown in clinical trials to be safe and effective at preventing symptomatic Covid-19, with no severe cases and no hospitalisations more than 14 days after the second dose," AstraZeneca said.

Why is this vaccine so important to the global economy?

AstraZeneca has promised to supply hundreds of millions of doses to low- and middle-income countries, and to deliver the vaccine on a not-for-profit basis to those nations in perpetuity.

The vaccine is significantly cheaper than others that have been approved, and far easier to transport and distribute than its rivals. Unlike the vaccines developed by Moderna and Pfizer, the AstraZeneca offering does not need to be stored at super-cold temperatures.

They're making loads of doses: AstraZeneca says it's working with partners, including the Serum Institute of India, to build manufacturing capacity of up to 3 billion doses in 2021 on a rolling basis.

For comparison: Pfizer expects to produce as many as 50 million vaccine doses in 2020 and up to 1.3 billion doses in 2021. Moderna said last month that it's on track to manufacture 500 million to 1 billion doses next year.

The world's richest countries have already reserved much of the capacity offered by Pfizer and Moderna. That makes the AstraZeneca vaccine even more important to developing economies.

Take India, for example. Asia's third-largest economy has not ordered the vaccines sold by Pfizer and Moderna, but is expected to receive hundreds of millions of doses of the AstraZeneca shot.

"The efficacy of the Oxford vaccine is ... the most encouraging sign yet that India has a route to ending its Covid-19 epidemic and the social distancing that continues to weigh on the economy," analysts at Capital Economics wrote in a recent research note.

India, which is one of the world's largest vaccine manufacturers, could approve the AstraZeneca vaccine as early as Wednesday, according to media reports. Doses are being made in the country by the Serum Institute of India.

One caveat: The team developing the AstraZeneca vaccine previously said it had an "an average efficacy of 70%," with one dosing regimen showing an efficacy of 90%. That's not quite as good as Pfizer and Moderna.

 

[Like_It_Hot]

Not surprisingly, progress has slowed.

Private enterprise can do this better than any federal or state government agency.

Sure!!! We saw what happen with PPE and ventilators... They reacted only under the Defense Production Act. Healthcare cost are the highest in US within the developed countries. Do the math. Lots of people lost their healthcare protection with their job. How can some be so disconnected to the realty?

 

[sene5hos]

The 14-day quarantine is the only way to decrease the spread after travel.

And I think that many will do it and many will not.

Why would they respect by the 14-day rules, when they didn't respect by any measures in the south.

 

[Like_It_Hot]

Pour revenir au pays, les voyageurs canadiens devront avoir un résultat de test négatif à la COVID−19 dans les trois jours précédant leur retour.

Plusieurs ministres du gouvernement Trudeau en ont fait l’annonce, mercredi, à Ottawa.

A negative test result will be required for canadians coming back to their homeland.

 

[Like_It_Hot]

For those still believing COVID is just and old people problem.
Newly-elected congressman Luke Letlow (republican) dies of COVID at age 41. He had no precondition risk.

 

[IamNY]

For those still believing COVID is just and old people problem.
Newly-elected congressman Luke Letlow (republican) dies of COVID at age 41. He had no precondition risk.

Full disclosure, he did die from a Covid related issue, but he also had a heart attack. I’m not saying he didn’t die from Covid, but he probably had many other issues going on that made his condition even worse. Most people under 45 have no serious issues. Sadly, he happens to be the exception.

 

[EagerBeaver]

The hospital worker who sabotaged the vaccine in Wisconsin by removing it from a refrigerator has been arrested and fired:

Wisconsin police arrest former hospital worker whose alleged actions led hospital to throw out more than 500 vaccine doses | CNN

Police in Grafton, Wisconsin, have arrested a recently fired pharmacist they say removed 57 vials of the Moderna vaccine from a local hospital's refrigerator and left them to sit out.

www.cnn.com

 

[sene5hos]

The hospital worker who sabotaged the vaccine in Wisconsin by removing it from a refrigerator has been arrested and fired:

Wisconsin police arrest former hospital worker whose alleged actions led hospital to throw out more than 500 vaccine doses | CNN

Police in Grafton, Wisconsin, have arrested a recently fired pharmacist they say removed 57 vials of the Moderna vaccine from a local hospital's refrigerator and left them to sit out.

www.cnn.com

Yes, I read that. It's pathetic !!

Why?

 

[Like_It_Hot]

Full disclosure, he did die from a Covid related issue, but he also had a heart attack. I’m not saying he didn’t die from Covid, but he probably had many other issues going on that made his condition even worse. Most people under 45 have no serious issues. Sadly, he happens to be the exception.

Not an exception at all. COVID is known to produce hyper-inflammatory and specially affects the heart... Thus cardiac issues.
Exception repeating days after days are no more exceptions it is plain realty that some can't deal with. COVID always kills by the exagerated inflammatory response it's producing. mainly in lungs and heart but also in other organs. Some should go back to classes or try to learn a bit.

 

[Like_It_Hot]

Concerning Trump response to COVID a great article here: "
The government’s public health experts were all but silenced by the arrival in August of Dr. Scott W. Atlas, the Stanford professor of neuroradiology recruited after appearances on Fox News.

With Dr. Deborah L. Birx, the coordinator of the White House virus task force, losing influence and often on the road, Dr. Atlas became the sole doctor Mr. Trump listened to. His theories, some of which scientists viewed as bordering on the crackpot, were exactly what the president wanted to hear: The virus is overblown, the number of deaths is exaggerated, testing is overrated, lockdowns do more harm than good."

Trump’s Focus as the Pandemic Raged: What Would It Mean for Him?

President Trump missed his chance to show that he could rise to the moment in the final chapter of his presidency and meet the defining challenge of his tenure.

www.nytimes.com

 

[Like_It_Hot]

Always a pleasure to read pertinent contribution.

 

[Klopomor]

 

[sene5hos]

Fact check: Alabama nurse did not die after receiving the COVID-19 vaccine

Social media users have been sharing posts that claim one of the first nurses in Alabama to receive the COVID-19 vaccine has been found dead. This claim is false: Alabama Public Health contacted all hospitals in the state that had administered the COVID-19 vaccine and confirmed...

www.reuters.com

Social media users have been sharing posts that claim one of the first nurses in Alabama to receive the COVID-19 vaccine has been found dead. This claim is false: Alabama Public Health contacted all hospitals in the state that had administered the COVID-19 vaccine and confirmed that no vaccine recipients had died.

The posts show screenshots of a Facebook chat saying, “Omg they just found my aunt dead! She was one of the nurses that got the covid vaccine today at her job & they just found her dead” and a Facebook post saying, “My friends Aunt, the nurse who died hours after receiving the covid vaccine is from Alabama.” Captions on the posts include, “Everyone should ask about the Nurse in Alabama who died 8-10 hours after first dose.” and “A nurse in Alabama has died approx. 8-10 hours after receiving her C-19 Vax.”

The Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine became available in the United States on Dec. 14, as the coronavirus death toll passed 300,000 (here) . Initial doses have been set aside for doctors, nurses, other frontline medical workers, residents and staff of nursing homes, and some U.S. government officials.

On Facebook

 

[Like_It_Hot]

Yah! Facebook is full of Fake News.
Once, Rex Tillerson, ex-CEO of Exon Mobile and first Trump's Chief of Staff was cited as having said: "Trump is a moron".
Of course, this was a Fake News... He denied it stating that his exact words were: "Trump is a fucking moron".
Always take what is published on Facebook, and here as well, with a grain of salt.

 

[Like_It_Hot]

Coronavirus variants may lead to false negative results with molecular tests: FDA​

FDA said it has alerted lab staff and healthcare providers to the possible false negative results and has asked them to consider such results in combination with clinical observations, and use a different test if COVID-19 is still suspected.
The more contagious variant of COVID-19 that has swept through the United Kingdom has been reported in at least five U.S. states, National Institutes of Health Director Francis Collins said this week. Scientists have said newly developed vaccines should be equally effective against the new variant.

Coronavirus variants may lead to false negative results with molecular tests: FDA

The U.S. drugs regulator said on Friday genetic variants of COVID-19, including the one found in the UK, could lead to false negative results from some molecular COVID-19 tests, but the risk of the mutations affecting overall testing accuracy is low.

www.ctvnews.ca

 

[Zaeballo]

Once, Rex Tillerson, ex-CEO of Exon Mobile and first Trump's Chief of Staff was cited as having said: "Trump is a moron".
Of course, this was a Fake News...

No, of course it is not Fake News. This is in fact an important breakthrough in our knowledge of recent history. Is Tillerson himself aware of his service as Trump's Chief of Staff? If not, it should be your civic duty to inform him.

 

[CaptRenault]

Not surprisingly Mario Cuomo, the NY governor who ordered the discharge of elderly patients from hospitals into nursing homes and thus contributed to their deaths, has fucked up the process of distributing vaccines in New York City and State. His complex rules for prioritizing who gets the vaccine have made healthcare organizations hesitant to move ahead fast with vaccination programs.

Here’s how New York can get its shot together — and finally beat COVID-19

In a single day, Israel immunizes more people against COVID-19 than New York City has in total since receiving its first vaccine shipment on Dec. 14. The two have similar populations, but 1.6 milli…

nypost.com

...The problem is less supply than stupidity: Gov. Cuomo’s complex rules on eligibility have left clinics tossing good vaccines rather than risk fines for administering it “out of order.” And the paperwork burden slows everything down, too.

It’s madness. To reach herd immunity — and get our lives and jobs back — we need to get as many people vaccinated as quickly as possible. Quit the micromanaging over exactly who gets it when and focus on getting it done...

 

[CaptRenault]

How is this for an idea, states? There is a pharmacy on every corner, often open 24 hours, and most everyone, especially senior citizens, has an account with a pharmacy.

At least Florida is using all of the vaccines they have received. They are not holding them back due to complicated state rules or worse, throwing some away, like NY is doing.

But your suggestion is a good one, as outlined in this City Journal article.

End Covid Now

More than 22 million doses of Covid-19 vaccine have been distributed in the United States so far, yet only 6.7 million Americans have received the first of the required two doses. Many observers, including President-elect Joe Biden, have argued that the shortfall calls for additional spending...

www.city-journal.org

...Now the time has come to cut out the state middlemen and loosen counterproductive regulations. Our private system of health-care delivery is superior to creating a public alternative. Every year, about half of the U.S. receives flu shots. The most common vaccination setting is physician offices (67.6 percent for children and 34.3 percent for adults). Another 32.2 percent of adults get vaccinated in pharmacies, local supermarkets, and grocery stores, with an additional 13.3 percent in other medical settings, and 14.9 percent in the workplace. There is no reason not to rely on these channels for Covid-19.

Private entities could be instructed that they are free to vaccinate anyone 45 years and older. People younger than 45 constitute 58 percent of the population but account for only 2 percent of Covid-19 deaths. Nearly everyone who died in this younger age group had other medical conditions—co-morbidities—that made them more vulnerable to Covid-19...

 

[CaptRenault]

An editorial in today's Wall Street Journal underlines the problems with vaccine distribution.

Another fuck-up by Governor Cuomo.

The Trump Administration said Tuesday it would release vaccine doses that it had been holding back for second inoculations and send more shots to states that are administering them faster. Thank you. This should speed up vaccinations by putting more pressure on states to relax the bureaucratic and political controls that have slowed the rollout.

“Every vaccine dose that is sitting in a warehouse rather than going into an arm could mean one more life lost or one more hospital bed occupied,” Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar said in a press briefing. He’s right. Only 9.3 million of the 27.7 million vaccine doses that have been shipped to states have been administered.

Blame convoluted and rigid eligibility rules that have focused too much on “equity”—i.e., politics. Operation Warp Speed apportions doses to states, and then states decide how to allocate them. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s guidance to states on how to prioritize vaccines focuses on worker occupation, but many states have added to the morass.

New York has been one of the worst, creating a complex formula for ranking health-care employees based on underlying risk factors, age, occupation and hospital department, among other things. Many hospitals had spare vaccines because large numbers of health-care workers declined to be vaccinated. Yet state rules barred offering shots to others.

The Pfizer and Moderna mRNA shots have to be used within hours of opening vials. When hospitals and clinics had leftover shots after vaccinating everyone who wanted one, nurses often had to go on a scavenger hunt to find someone in the Governor’s top priority group. Many doses went to waste, and hundreds were left unopened on shelves.

 

[IamNY]

Some progress

Pharmacies say they could do more to distribute vaccines. States are listening.

Experts said it's an important step in ramping up distribution, one that makes sense given the millions of flu shots pharmacists administer every year.

www.yahoo.com

I don’t get mass vaccination sites like Dodger Stadium.

Seems like a political stunt. If it is unsafe to have a crowd there watching baseball games, why would you have thousands of people go there for a shot.

Wouldn‘t those thousands of people be safer going single-file into hundreds of pharmacies and grocery stores by appointment be safer from a social distancing standpoint.

NY is setting up mass vaccination sites as well. I think the big difference from places like stadiums compared to pharmacies is that the stadiums are outdoors and have plenty of room instead of jamming people indoors into tighter spaces. In NY they are setting up massive outdoor tents to accommodate drive through recipients.