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Vaccines should end the pandemic, despite the variants, say experts

news.harvard.edu

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Re: Vaccines should end the pandemic, despite the variants, say experts

#111

Earlier quoted context omitted.

1 in 10,000 is the death rate so far, not the individual odds of dying if everyone in the age group gets sick.

Sure, but its the data we have, and therefore the best estimate we have of the likelihood, on average.

The denominator could be an estimate of the number of people in the group that have been infected, that would probably be a better estimate of the individual risk from getting infected than just averaging the deaths so far out over the whole group.

Re: Vaccines should end the pandemic, despite the variants, say experts

#113

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's crazy to think about how HIV has killed some ~32 million people, and yet we rarely hear about it anymore. COVID probably won't even hit 4 million deaths (barring some much deadlier variant that we can't easily produce a new vaccine for).

Because any attempt to address the underlying cause of spread of HIV will be deemed as homophobic or backward in today's culture.

You’re right, that worked super well when Reagan gave it a go

Re: Vaccines should end the pandemic, despite the variants, say experts

#114

These kind of pandemic tend to end themselves after about 20-30 months. We’re about half way there anyway.

The last pandemic with a death toll anything like (actually much worse than) COVID-19 is the still-ongoing HIV pandemic. It's entering its 40th year .

HIV is not spread casually. You don't get it because someone with it shook your hand or coughed in your general vicinity like you can with covid.

HIV gets transmitted by sex, sharing needles or similar. So, no, it's not comparable. It's vastly easier to avoid.

Nonetheless, they've made a lot of progress on treatment since I first began hearing about it in high school.

Re: Vaccines should end the pandemic, despite the variants, say experts

#115

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Sure, but its the data we have, and therefore the best estimate we have of the likelihood, on average.

The denominator could be an estimate of the number of people in the group that have been infected, that would probably be a better estimate of the individual risk from getting infected than just averaging the deaths so far out over the whole group.

I believe that 1 in 10000 number is what you want it to be, the number of deaths per infection in that age group, not the number of deaths per population of that age group. 1 in 10000 infections leading to death gives us a presumably reasonably accurate likelihood of death rates if everyone in that age group were to get infected.

Re: Vaccines should end the pandemic, despite the variants, say experts

#116

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The denominator could be an estimate of the number of people in the group that have been infected, that would probably be a better estimate of the individual risk from getting infected than just averaging the deaths so far out over the whole group.

I believe that 1 in 10000 number is what you want it to be, the number of deaths per infection in that age group, not the number of deaths per population of that age group. 1 in 10000 infections leading to death gives us a presumably reasonably accurate likelihood of death rates if everyone in that age group were to get infected.

It's literally 7000/75 million, look at the numbers in the post I replied to and do the arithmetic.

Re: Vaccines should end the pandemic, despite the variants, say experts

#117
post #95

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>US will be one of the first countries back to normalcy I live in Australia. The country has been to normal for a long time now, and my state specifically had a lockdown at the start of the pandemic, and since August 2020, we have not had a major lock down (except for one week in Jan 2021 due to a outbreak scare) and have been living in normalcy since then. Just saying because it seems like people erasing and forgett…

New Zealand comes to mind as well.

I guess you could say there's a difference. Both Australia and New Zealand have returned to normal because of success in controlling the virus. Both countries have low double digit counts of infections per day (and teetering on single digits). So I guess you could say the US will be the first to get back to normal while there continues to be a high number of cases.

Re: Vaccines should end the pandemic, despite the variants, say experts

#118
post #46

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Don’t remember the study but pretty sure that cross reactivity thesis to common cold eventually didn’t pan out. Believe Derek Lowe wrote about it.

Lowe's Feb 2021 article was about antibodies, not T-cells, https://blogs.sciencemag.org/pipeline/archives/2021/02/10/do... > Now, you can still make an argument that the T cell component of immunity might provide some protection after a previous coronavirus infection. The current study didn’t address this directly Lowe's July 2020 article on T-cells, https://blogs.sciencemag.org/pipeline/archives/2020/07/15/ne... > t…

Ah, I stand corrected, thanks! Though not established in the other direction either of course for common cold. But I was wrong to say it was disproven.

Re: Vaccines should end the pandemic, despite the variants, say experts

#119
post #77

OT: Imagine "experts" from our industry explain the mainstream our world: e.g. what's the right programming language, or database technology, why types matter, or not? Why do we trust "experts" from other industries?

Fear and hope.

But do you mean: so-called experts? As in, not experts? Well, then that's just a question of finding the real ones, if they exist.

Or do you dislike how they oversimplify when talking to the public? I do too. All nuance is erased. The trick, then, is find out what (true, non-politized) experts say to each other when the public isn't listening.

Re: Vaccines should end the pandemic, despite the variants, say experts

#120

I hope they are correct. I also hope we will continue to be more careful about germ control from here on out in myriad ways. I hope we do not blithely go back to "business as usual" in a way that fosters future pandemics as if we learned absolutely nothing here.

I worry also about an overreaction. At some level people who can survive a virus with little to no symptoms are better off contracting it than not, if only to form the antibodies to be ready for future mutants they might come in contact with. The behavior changes we make because of COVID could be dooming a lot of people to one day encounter much worse mutant viruses they could have been ready for.
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