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18.7 Million Americans Vaccinated

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Re: 18.7 Million Americans Vaccinated

#171
post #3

At what number can we stop wearing masks, stop social distancing, start dining in, etc.? That's the number I care about. Because until somebody influential picks that number, we'll just keep masking and social distancing until the end of time.

Who's to say that we will ever reach that point? COVID-19 will be with us forever [1], which means that governments can forever point to it as a reason to push for increasingly oppressive restrictions. The economic meltdown resulting from these restrictions is pushing even the most capitalist countries much further onto the socialism spectrum than anyone could have imagined just a year ago. Some political parties vie…

How are we being pushed into socialism and what policies being pushed are socialist? I don't see businesses being made public, nor do I see workers gaining any control over business or economic decisions.

Re: 18.7 Million Americans Vaccinated

#172

Earlier quoted context omitted.

By Springtime (in 45-60 days) we'll be at the one year mark, fatigued by masks, rules, shutdowns, and authoritarians, in general. The news will be tedious about how many are being vaccinated (it will be a lot) -- and, the weather will turn warmer. Then, many/most will say _fuck it_, I'm taking my life back. I'm visualizing that day, and will welcome it.

I'm visualizing that day, and will welcome it Are you into apocalypses? There's the British quick-spreading strain, and there are the Brazilian and South African variants that the vaccine does not offer good protection against. I predict that COVID will be like Picardy Fever, not like the Spanish Flu - there will be outbreaks every few years here and there.

> there's strains

And? The world doesn't end when new strains of the cold or the flu happen. Every year. As it's happened for as long as there have been humans.

Humans have "eradicated"... Polio? Because it's rather serious? What else have we eradicated?

COVID is here to stay.

Re: 18.7 Million Americans Vaccinated

#173

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That number has been thrown around for here immunity. But I don't think it answers the GP's question because * Herd immunity numbers assume no ongoing vaccination -- they more or less say, "If life went back to normal, would the virus slow down or speed up?" * Age-related mortality and age-related vaccination rates are important. If we vaccinate all of the people who are at serious risk, the danger is mostly gone. Th…

Imho you’re underestimating the impact of the disease in general. Disease is much more than who lives or dies, there’s also people who “survive”. A number of asymptomatic covid patients have severe lung damage. Vaccinating “at risk” people who might die doesn’t account for all the people who might live permanently disabled lives as a result of a covid infection. https://newyork.cbslocal.com/2021/01/14/asymptomatic-co…

The micrograph shown in that link was taken from this NEJM article, which clearly says that the patients in the study died from Covid:

https://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/NEJMoa2015432

Dying from Covid is not “asymptomatic Covid”. So your evidence for this phenomenon consists of a local news article where they’ve quoted the opinion of one person, mis-represented a figure from a journal article, and showed x-rays with no citations or context.

Re: 18.7 Million Americans Vaccinated

#174
post #3

At what number can we stop wearing masks, stop social distancing, start dining in, etc.? That's the number I care about. Because until somebody influential picks that number, we'll just keep masking and social distancing until the end of time.

By Springtime (in 45-60 days) we'll be at the one year mark, fatigued by masks, rules, shutdowns, and authoritarians, in general. The news will be tedious about how many are being vaccinated (it will be a lot) -- and, the weather will turn warmer. Then, many/most will say _fuck it_, I'm taking my life back. I'm visualizing that day, and will welcome it.

Haha fuck all of us who can't access the vaccine, I guess. I'm trying to imagine celebrating the spread of a virus because it makes your life mildly more convenient and it makes my stomach turn.

Re: 18.7 Million Americans Vaccinated

#175

America has ~330 million people. Let's assume the 18.7 Million was just in the month of january..not 100% acurate, but not 100% inaccurate. That gives us a timeline of more than 1 year at current rate to vaccinate the entire US. Even vaccinating 70% the population will take roughly a year at current pace. Puts things in some perspective.

That’s not how exponential curves work.

Re: 18.7 Million Americans Vaccinated

#176
post #70
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…

I'm no expert but I'll share what I've learned so far, YMMV. >Can someone help me understand the difference between this and other vaccines? Here are the traditional vaccine types: https://www.vaccines.gov/basics/types COVID-19 vaccines are all (to my knowledge) a new type called an 'mRNA vaccine' - https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/vaccines/different... These are basically the same as the 'subunit' type of v…

Cool, so the spike protein "factory" creates facsimiles of the actual SARS-CoV-2 spike protein, which then becomes a trigger to the immune system to create antibodies for that specific virus/spike protein combo.

The mRNA approach to vaccines seems to be a leaner, meaner, 2.0 version wherein instead of injecting a virus ut totum the vaccine-development-wizards have developed it to use just enough of the original virus code to trigger the immunological response, bolstering our defenses, and thereby increasing resistance to the thing "in the wild."

Would this apply to other coronaviruses, such as "common cold" type vaccinations? Were there specific discoveries in 2020 that will open the floodgates to better influenza protection?

These types of responses are really helpful, and help me to get back into a rational framing of the subject - rather than fielding psychological noise from headlines and sub-informational news pieces.

Re: 18.7 Million Americans Vaccinated

#177

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That number does seem like a lot but in the same time period several million people died from other causes. Death is quite natural.

Death is quite natural, but the fact that a single pathogen, which other "western" nations managed to get under control has become the second leading cause of death in the United States is a horrific thing. Heart disease is a systemic issue of our lifestyle and diet, and we don't know how to prevent cancer. A pathogen is fairly simple by comparison - if you don't catch it you can't die from it. Prevent the spread and…

Except other western countries haven't "gotten it under control"... they are all having second waves and resurgences with or without large lockdowns and with or without draconian processes.

> fairly simple

Until you start looking at how many lives are saved vs the second and third tier effects. Higher suicide rates from losing jobs and stress? People in third world countries dying from a cratered world economy? etc.

COVID needs to be handled and those more affected by it need protected. More hospital prep and masks around grandma... but the "fascist" and unproven shutdowns which by any measurements not only don't work but - as mentioned - causes more damage than it prevents?

nowhere near as simple as you proclaim it to be.

Re: 18.7 Million Americans Vaccinated

#178
post #146

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I’m not sure how much of it is fear of the MRNA vaccine itself, and how much is an objection to the creepy fascist context. Probably a lot of both, and maybe yes a bit too much of the former. But in any case their reply is, “We would rather take the risk.” If they get sick and die like your grandma (condolences), they will have done so at least partially by choice, a choice which they have damn well earned by their m…

Have you considered relocating them to New Zealand? No COVID, no masks, no need for a vaccine. I’m not sure about government overreach in other parts of life though.

[deleted]

Re: 18.7 Million Americans Vaccinated

#180
post #88

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"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?

I would rather that our leaders be honest from the start about what we’re facing and what they plan to do about it. I’m extraordinarily skeptical that trying to control public opinion by boiling the frog is effective.
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