Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

18.7 Million Americans Vaccinated

covidvaxcount.live

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

101–110 of 456 posts

Re: 18.7 Million Americans Vaccinated

#101

Post by flukus »

peytn wrote: post #40
supertrope wrote: post #12

Earlier quoted context omitted.

A lot of Americans have already stopped complying with public health recommendations. Or they never put on a mask to begin with. It's like a teacher who tells a class to line up so they can be dismissed but someone doesn't go along and drags out the whole process.

One might reasonably believe that clearly defined exit criteria might boost compliance if chosen carefully with community input. I can see the other side of things. In my opinion we are doing a very poor job of meeting people’s needs.

Is it possible to create clearly defined criteria when there are such large error bars and so many unknowns? Throw in varying climates, urbanization levels and other factors and I don't think it's reasonable to pick an arbitrary point. Re-openings in most of the world have been staged anyway.

Re: 18.7 Million Americans Vaccinated

#102

Post by crazydoggers »

jeremiahhs wrote: post #34
kfrzcode wrote: post #9

Can someone help me understand the difference between this and other vaccines? From what I know, the COVID-19 vaccine is only effective in reducing symptoms for those who get inoculated. Is it accurate to say this vaccine does not prevent infection or help develop an immunity? I just do not understand how vaccines work. Would love a (peer-reviewed) source or sources I could read to brush up. This is not a political o…

All any vaccine does is greatly decrease r naught in a population. No vaccine confers true immunity of an individual when exposed to high viral load.

Well I guess that depends on what you mean by “true immunity”. If you mean not a single cellular infection, then that is ridiculous since true immunity doesn’t exists.

If instead you mean that you develop no symptoms, and cannot pass on the virus, then they indeed can and do (which is why r naught drops).

Now obviously if your “high viral load” is being literally bathed in viruses... then ok. But for many situations, typical viral load and even high viral load situations as seen in health care settings, many vaccines would qualify as giving large percentages of people “true immunity” in the sense of no symptoms and no viral shedding.

Another thing vaccines can do is prevent illnesses caused by toxins. In those cases antigens of toxic compounds generate antibodies to incapacitate a toxoids effect on the body, for example the tetanus and diphtheria vaccines or vaccines against rattlesnake venom.

Re: 18.7 Million Americans Vaccinated

#103

Post by guscost »

metamet wrote: post #94
guscost wrote: post #79

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You’re not wrong, but the right people cannot profit or accumulate power via the spread of natural immunity, and not at all coincidentally it is unpopular to mention. “But the risk is far too great not to pay trillions and surrender our freedom,” retorts a frightened chorus of people.

Research suggests that after infection with some coronaviruses, reinfection with the same virus — though usually mild and only happening in a fraction of people — is possible after a period of months or years. Further research is needed to determine the protective effect of antibodies to the virus in those who have been infected. Even if infection with the COVID-19 virus creates long-lasting immunity, a large number…

What should I tell my elderly relatives who are so creeped out by this fascist, disgraceful fiasco, that they will refuse a vaccine even though it has a decent chance of doing some good?

Re: 18.7 Million Americans Vaccinated

#104

Post by jeffshek »

xiphias2 wrote: post #49
jariel wrote: post #46

Here is a interactive chart showing various nations [1] Israel will be #1 by far. They have apparently paid $65/dose or something like that, far ahead of what others have paid, moreover, the dealing looks a little problematic. Obviously, it's worth far, far more than $65 a person, but it may not make too much sense to get into a vicious bidding war as it's unlikely to increase the rate of production and the surpluses…

Why not? Bidding should be time based to provide better incentives for the companies to spend money on factories.

You're right that it'll impact long-term incentives, however - short-term vaccines are supply-blocked.

A bidding war (probably) would be profit capture for those selling vaccines, but won't actually raise the amount of available (in the short-term).

Since most timelines are less than 2 years, the time to build a factory can be around that in the States (or even more).

Re: 18.7 Million Americans Vaccinated

#105

Post by metamet »

guscost wrote: post #103
metamet wrote: post #94

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Research suggests that after infection with some coronaviruses, reinfection with the same virus — though usually mild and only happening in a fraction of people — is possible after a period of months or years. Further research is needed to determine the protective effect of antibodies to the virus in those who have been infected. Even if infection with the COVID-19 virus creates long-lasting immunity, a large number…

What should I tell my elderly relatives who are so creeped out by this fascist, disgraceful fiasco, that they will refuse a vaccine even though it has a decent chance of doing some good?

That you don't want them to get it and die, like my grandma did?

I'm not quite sure how you can convince someone to get a vaccine if they don't trust the science on it.

Re: 18.7 Million Americans Vaccinated

#106

Post by jjoonathan »

dragonwriter wrote: post #53
jjoonathan wrote: post #43

Earlier quoted context omitted.

People who elect the benefit but don't complete the signup process are still enrolled, they just can't consume the services until they run the gauntlet, discouraging service use and increasing profit.

Under the ACA Medical Loss Ratio rule, insurers must refund premiums if they exceed a certain percentage of reimbursed costs across a plan (there's a couple different tiers with different limits.) In order to maximize profits, they need maximum utilization, which takes completing the signup, not just idle premium payment.

Eh, I've seen accounting rules of that sort worked around with relative ease. It's not difficult to find ways to spend money that send value back your way, and even when you're in that position it's always the right move to ask for more. Budgeting incentives 101.

Re: 18.7 Million Americans Vaccinated

#107

Post by IgorPartola »

rsfern wrote: post #52
11thEarlOfMar wrote: post #45

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I believe we can add the vaccinated and the recovered, yes? About 25 million have recovered so far. That puts us at about 12% 'immune'.

As far as I understand those who were infected and recovered are still encouraged to get the vaccine. I’m not sure what that does to their priority in the vaccination queue though. I think the length of time recovery and vaccination confer are still not really nailed down

A medical professional I know had COVID in November and just got her second dose. Anecdotally, it doesn’t matter if you’ve had it or not for the purpose of the signup process.

Re: 18.7 Million Americans Vaccinated

#108

Post by supertrope »

Izkata wrote: post #88
supertrope wrote: post #69

Earlier quoted context omitted.

People were only in this together for a few weeks in March and April. I can somewhat understand as losing one's job is losing almost everything in America. Our leaders frittered away two months of advance warning, provided contradictory advice on masks, and botched creating a test. Compare the United States with Korea which had their first confirmed case on the same day.

"Two weeks to slow the spread" while we build up hospital capacity has turned into nearly a year of not bothering with extra capacity. It doesn't surprise me people are fed up.

It takes years to train a nurse and a decade to train a physician. An indication of max capacity is when hospitals halt elective procedures. There are currently 130K people laid out in hospitals. We have mercifully just trended down from a third peak. Would you rather we get Italy's fate of mass casualty stage rationing?

Re: 18.7 Million Americans Vaccinated

#109

Post by eikenberry »

supertrope wrote: post #95
dougmwne wrote: post #28

I'm interested in how vaccinating a small number of people can make a big impact on the effects of the pandemic. The risk of death and severity rapidly increases with age. We also have a good idea of the kinds of preexisting conditions put you most at risk. We have already been targeting health care professionals (increases health care capacity) and people over 65 (the majority of the at-risk population). If we are a…

Old people 65+ are about 90% of hospitalizations and deaths. Israel finished vaccinating their seniors and hospital admissions are down 60%.

If the 65+ group made up 90% of the hospitalizations and they all have been vaccinated, do they know why are the hospitalization numbers down only 40%?

Re: 18.7 Million Americans Vaccinated

#110

Post by rmk »

SpicyLemonZest wrote: post #74
rmk wrote: post #39

Earlier quoted context omitted.

No one will pay the political price of causing infections among children by reopening rapidly. And I'd like to believe that as a society, we are cautious about letting children be infected with a novel disease whose long-term effects are unknown.

I’m not sure your reading of the political climate is accurate. A lot of places have already reopened schools, and I’ve heard a lot of politicians explicitly say that they’re willing to pay the price because it’s not a big deal if kids get it. Maybe they’re wrong, but if you expect that there’ll be public support behind keeping things closed when the death and hospitalization rates start plummeting, I think you’d bet…

I'm not saying that places will be shut down completely. I was talking specifically about masking and physical distancing mandates and other such restrictions. I don't think big business and the public will tolerate losing another season of attending (in-person) Football, Baseball, Ice Hockey, games.
Post reply on HN