111–120 of 292 posts
Earlier quoted context omitted.
… and 99% of cases in the US are among the unvaccinated. What’s your point?
The point is that the people naturally infected were not reinfected. That stat isn't incompatible. The 99% in the US could easily be the people neither vaccinated nor previously-infected. It says nothing about the risk of reinfection.
As other commenters have noted, this case study further supports the widespread observations that COVID-19 vaccines reduce the chance of severe (symptomatic) illness but do not necessarily prevent infection and transmission. The authors of this study conjecture that the unvaccinated asymptomatic “patient 40” may have been the source of the infections seen in the other fully vaccinated patients - however this was a mi…
I've wondered this ever since the UK changed it's approach and now that we've got to a state where there is pretty much no restrictions. I think scientists around the world also have this concern with the UK's approach
As other commenters have noted, this case study further supports the widespread observations that COVID-19 vaccines reduce the chance of severe (symptomatic) illness but do not necessarily prevent infection and transmission. The authors of this study conjecture that the unvaccinated asymptomatic “patient 40” may have been the source of the infections seen in the other fully vaccinated patients - however this was a mi…
> imperfect vaccines can cause selective pressure which enhances the fitness of highly virulent pathogens The number of ways in which we undertaking a natural experiment in viral evolution has been top-of-mind for me as well. But the greater issue in my view is not that the vaccines are imperfect. All vaccines are somewhat imperfect. On its own, I the mRNA vaccines were probably entirely adequate. The problem is that…
As other commenters have noted, this case study further supports the widespread observations that COVID-19 vaccines reduce the chance of severe (symptomatic) illness but do not necessarily prevent infection and transmission. The authors of this study conjecture that the unvaccinated asymptomatic “patient 40” may have been the source of the infections seen in the other fully vaccinated patients - however this was a mi…
> [...] vaccines reduce the chance of severe (symptomatic) illness but do not necessarily prevent infection and transmission.
My understanding is that at least the RNA vaccines are sterilizing when titers peak, i.e. in the first weeks (months?) after full vaccination. This is due to the presence of a certain type of antibody in the mucosa of the respiratory tract. We also know that levels decrease over 6-12 months, at which point you can get infected, but illness will be mild due to T cell activity. (assuming the immune system of a young, healthy person).
> My understanding is that this is a relatively new and perhaps highly understudied phenomenon.
I don't have the impression it's understudied. With the widespread prevalence of genetic sequencing we have a pretty good understanding of the mutation activity. Once a variant has an evolutional advantage it is studied quite closely whether it is a fitness escape, an immune escape or both. E.g. Delta is mostly a fitness escape but fortunately only a slight immune escape.
> or just trade relevant links with others who are diving into primary sources as a way to form an educated and well rounded opinion.
The best resource I can give you is a German podcast with two of Germany's leading virologists [1]. Personally listening to experts in their field in a long form interview has been orders of magnitude more insightful. It's one thing to read an article in Vanity Fair whether the virus has escaped from a lab, it's a totally different thing to listen to an expert that actually knows how to do gain of function research.
Maybe it's worth translating the transcriptions?
Earlier quoted context omitted.
> One counterpoint that I’ve come across during my own review of the literature, is the idea that imperfect vaccines can cause selective pressure which enhances the fitness of highly virulent pathogens. This is what happened with "Marek's disease", a virus-caused disease in chickens. The vaccine was "leaky" and ended up selecting for a more deadly form, such that now all chickens worldwide have to be vaccinated for i…
So does this mean we made this pandemic worse than the one from 1918 when we didn't have a vaccine?
1) the most contagious variants have emerged from countries with little to no vaccination: UK before vaccination and with very little protective measures (pubs, etc.), Brazil with Bolsonaro, India with a very high population density who are mostly unvaccinated, etc. These variants appear thanks to the high number of contaminations. Vaccination means fewer contaminations, and thus the less likely arising of mutations and a new variant.
2) Current vaccines are very effective against the current variants. This observation is inconsistent with the assumption that one of the variants could have been naturally selected to resist to vaccination. This is also expected as the percentage of vaccinated people is low in most parts of the world, thus there is little pressure to select a vaccine-resistant variant for now.
If we had made the variants "worse" because of imperfect vaccination, we would have seen a vaccine-resistant variant emerge from one of the vaccinated (>50%) countries.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
Do they say how? Doesn't seem like it even makes sense anymore. I'm going to guess based on your youtube wording that their answer is not vaccines?
Bret Weinstein has been citing studies he claims show that ivermectin reduces spread such that even close family members are unlikely to be infected from a person with covid. edit: curious how hn readers feel they will be able to correct misguided beliefs if they don't even know what those beliefs are.
As other commenters have noted, this case study further supports the widespread observations that COVID-19 vaccines reduce the chance of severe (symptomatic) illness but do not necessarily prevent infection and transmission. The authors of this study conjecture that the unvaccinated asymptomatic “patient 40” may have been the source of the infections seen in the other fully vaccinated patients - however this was a mi…
that puts worksplace/etc. mandates into spotlight as their main rationale is to prevent the spread, ie. supposedly "it is not for you, it is for the others".
So, it sounds like as a result of such mandates we may end up in a situation where the only people spreading virus at work/hospitals/government offices/etc. would be the ones with a highly virulent variety less susceptible to vaccines.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
> imperfect vaccines can cause selective pressure which enhances the fitness of highly virulent pathogens The number of ways in which we undertaking a natural experiment in viral evolution has been top-of-mind for me as well. But the greater issue in my view is not that the vaccines are imperfect. All vaccines are somewhat imperfect. On its own, I the mRNA vaccines were probably entirely adequate. The problem is that…
In addition, the vaccines currently in use -- at least in the West -- are either mRNA or vector vaccines containing only parts of the virus (as far as I know only the spike protein from the virus's surface). I would expect them to result in a more specific immunity which is easier for the virus to circumvent, my mutating only its spike protein. Conventional vaccines however, which are more prevalent in the developing…
This is not clear at all - actually the opposite might be the case. Natural immunity focuses on a number of 'markers' that are more likely to change than the spike protein.
As far as I know we don't know yet. Here is a comparison with other vaccines [1].
[1] https://twitter.com/ENirenberg/status/1412865782862725125
As other commenters have noted, this case study further supports the widespread observations that COVID-19 vaccines reduce the chance of severe (symptomatic) illness but do not necessarily prevent infection and transmission. The authors of this study conjecture that the unvaccinated asymptomatic “patient 40” may have been the source of the infections seen in the other fully vaccinated patients - however this was a mi…
My understanding is that there is very little evidence of vaccinated individuals actually transmitting the original ("wild-type") virus, or even the Alpha variant (obviously, Delta/Gamma are potentially different beasts). This was why we in the United States dropped mask mandates for vaccinated individuals. I don't know why the narrative always reverts to "oh, the vaccines just decrease symptoms", a statement unsuppo…