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

Neutralizing antibodies against SARS-CoV-2 variants after infection, vaccination

jamanetwork.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

41–50 of 267 posts

Re: Neutralizing antibodies against SARS-CoV-2 variants after infection, vaccination

#41

Post by mynameisvlad »

throwaway894345 wrote: post #35
mynameisvlad wrote: post #26

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> All current data shows areas that have taken that approach are significantly better off today than the places that hid in a hole the past year. Source? I'd argue current data shows that those that showed an overabundance of caution, like New Zealand, are the ones significantly better off than everyone else.

New Zealand’s results are largely due to it being a small, isolated nation. Hawaii similarly enjoys the fewest COVID cases per capita of the US.

Hawaii, the only state that requires a COVID test within 36 hours of flying there? I mean, of course they'd have the lowest cases per capita when they're the only ones actively refusing entry to those who have it.

Re: Neutralizing antibodies against SARS-CoV-2 variants after infection, vaccination

#42

Post by throwaway894345 »

Spivak wrote: post #37
war1025 wrote: post #31

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> like New Zealand, You mean an island nation with strict control over their ports and borders?

And had mandatory lockdowns

Mandatory lockdowns make a lot more sense when you’re an island nation that can plausibly eradicate the disease. You reasonably can expect a month of pain and then resume business as usual, but the America’s, Europe, and Asian enjoy no such hope.

Re: Neutralizing antibodies against SARS-CoV-2 variants after infection, vaccination

#43

Post by war1025 »

Spivak wrote: post #37
war1025 wrote: post #31

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> like New Zealand, You mean an island nation with strict control over their ports and borders?

And had mandatory lockdowns

Mandatory lockdowns are like cancer surgery. They can be very effective if everything is still localized, but if the cancer has already metastasized, it really doesn't solve the problem.

Re: Neutralizing antibodies against SARS-CoV-2 variants after infection, vaccination

#44

Post by jstanley »

war1025 wrote: post #33
heterodoxxed wrote: post #28

Earlier quoted context omitted.

| they are realistically at zero risk of severe illness. I didn't do it for me.

Every single person who "didn't do it for me" relied on an enormous network of people putting themselves at risk daily to keep the supply chains functioning. It's virtuization of fear and little else.

I'm confused. Is it a risk or is it not a risk?

Re: Neutralizing antibodies against SARS-CoV-2 variants after infection, vaccination

#45

Post by Spivak »

throwaway894345 wrote: post #42
Spivak wrote: post #37

Earlier quoted context omitted.

And had mandatory lockdowns

Mandatory lockdowns make a lot more sense when you’re an island nation that can plausibly eradicate the disease. You reasonably can expect a month of pain and then resume business as usual, but the America’s, Europe, and Asian enjoy no such hope.

I know! Which is why it’s silly to use NZ as an example of anything.

Re: Neutralizing antibodies against SARS-CoV-2 variants after infection, vaccination

#46

Post by idoubtit »

The current HN title deviates from the original title in a way that is misleading. "Vaccines Are Effective Against Covid Variants" is a wrong affirmation. The original article only states that in vitro experiments show that some vaccines are effective against some variants. Not all vaccines, not all variants, and no test on human beings.

A counter point is that some vaccines seem to be ineffective agains some variants. For instance AstraZeneca against B.A.351 (South-Africa). From a preprint: "Conclusions A two-dose regimen of ChAdOx1-nCoV19 did not show protection against mild-moderate Covid-19 due to B.1.351 variant, however, VE against severe Covid-19 is undetermined." https://www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1101/2021.02.10.21251247v...

The US CDC does state that, according to current publications, some variants present a "moderate reduction on neutralization". Their page about "Variants of Interest" and "Variants of Concern" mentions many scientific papers. https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/cases-updates/vari...

Re: Neutralizing antibodies against SARS-CoV-2 variants after infection, vaccination

#47

Post by legulere »

ed25519FUUU wrote: post #9
mcwone wrote: post #7

A January 2021 study in the annals of internal medicine estimating the death rates of non institutionalized patients of .26 percent with age breakdowns . https://www.acpjournals.org/doi/10.7326/M20-5352?utm_source=...

Some more: > Indiana's IFR for noninstitutionalized persons older than 60 years is just below 2% (1 in 50). In comparison, the ratio is approximately 2.5 times greater than the estimated IFR for seasonal influenza, 0.8% (1 in 125), among those aged 65 years and older (5).

That is just one factor though in which COVID-19 is worse than the seasonal influenza though.

COVID-19 has a basic reproduction number of 3.3 – 5.7, while the seasonal influenza has one of 0.9 – 2.1 [1], which means that it spreads far more easily. You cannot just wait until summer for influenza season to be over.

With influenza you have a higher rate of existing immunity in the population. With COVID-19 it is basically non-existent, except maybe for a few single people that had SARS or MERS before.

Younger people are also more affected [2]

You are longer sick from COVID-19 and if you have to stay in the hospital you will stay there longer and are more likely to end up on the intensive care unit [2]

In the end you cannot compare a pandemic situation to influenza season.

[1]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Basic_reproduction_number [2]: https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-021-85081-0

Re: Neutralizing antibodies against SARS-CoV-2 variants after infection, vaccination

#48

Post by ghaff »

throwaway894345 wrote: post #35
mynameisvlad wrote: post #26

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> All current data shows areas that have taken that approach are significantly better off today than the places that hid in a hole the past year. Source? I'd argue current data shows that those that showed an overabundance of caution, like New Zealand, are the ones significantly better off than everyone else.

New Zealand’s results are largely due to it being a small, isolated nation. Hawaii similarly enjoys the fewest COVID cases per capita of the US.

And furthermore their border is still essentially closed. Their approach was almost certainly the right one for them but locking down access in that way was never practical for most countries.

Re: Neutralizing antibodies against SARS-CoV-2 variants after infection, vaccination

#49

Post by marcodiego »

For people arguing that not being part of a risk group is a reason not to protect yourself, please take a lesson from brazil. Being part of a 'high risk group' does not saves you from infecting other people who are part of such groups.

That's basically what happened in brazil: people who were not part of risk groups crowded, encouraged by the president himself[0][1][2]. The number of infected poeple soared and variants that affect younger people appeared[3][4]. The health system has now collapsed because there is not enough ICU for such a high number of ill people[5][6].

[0] https://www.em.com.br/app/noticia/politica/2021/02/26/intern...

[1] https://noticias.uol.com.br/politica/ultimas-noticias/2021/0...

[2] https://cultura.uol.com.br/noticias/15258_bolsonaro-mergulha...

[3] https://www.cartacapital.com.br/saude/segunda-onda-de-covid-...

[4] https://www.brasildefato.com.br/2021/03/19/tres-novas-cepas-...

[5] https://www.cnnbrasil.com.br/saude/2021/03/19/17-estados-e-o...

[6] https://www.cnnbrasil.com.br/saude/2021/03/19/em-meio-ao-col...

Re: Neutralizing antibodies against SARS-CoV-2 variants after infection, vaccination

#50

Post by paulmd »

amelius wrote: post #3
simonebrunozzi wrote: post #2

It seems that the AstraZeneca vaccine is not effective against the South African variant [0]. [0]: https://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/NEJMoa2102214?fbclid=I...

That's wrt mild to moderate cases. It might still be effective against severe cases.

nevertheless, you have to actually support that hypothesis with research. Just the fact that it's ineffective against mild to moderate doesn't mean it will be effective against more severe cases. it might also be ineffective against severe cases, making it just entirely ineffective against those strains.

a year later and people are still trying to twist studies into support of their favored medical treatments without actual supporting research...

Post reply on HN