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U.S. plans to begin administering Covid-19 booster shots in September

reuters.com

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Re: U.S. plans to begin administering Covid-19 booster shots in September

#21

Post by nradov »

criticaltinker wrote: post #10

> Global health leaders including Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, director-general of the World Health Organization, have pleaded with developed countries not to administer boosters given that most of the world’s population hasn’t received even a single dose. [1] > U.S regulators authorized a third dose of COVID-19 vaccines by Pfizer Inc (PFE.N)-BioNTech and Moderna Inc (MRNA.O) on Friday for people with compromised immu…

Vaccine exports are underway and on track. However the vaccines require refrigeration which can be logistically challenging in underdeveloped countries.

https://www.wsj.com/articles/u-s-says-it-has-shared-110-mill...

Those poor countries tend to have fewer people at risk due to having younger populations and lower incidences of co-morbid conditions like obesity and diabetes. A recent meta analysis calculated an infection fatality rate of 0.05% in Africa.

https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/eci.13554

Re: U.S. plans to begin administering Covid-19 booster shots in September

#22

Post by lupire »

kalleboo wrote: post #5

Meanwhile the rest of the world outside the US and EU are still starving for any vaccines at all. But America pays more so they get doubled-up, even though their real problem is all the unvaccinated.

Whether the real problem is the unvaccinated or need for boosters, the solution for non-antivax people at risk is the same: vaccines get administered to Americans.

Re: U.S. plans to begin administering Covid-19 booster shots in September

#23

Post by lupire »

silisili wrote: post #7
tboyd47 wrote: post #2

This was probably the hold-up for FDA approval. They needed to see if a third dose would be recommended. But if two doses weren't enough to stop the delta variant, how can they be sure that three are?

As I understand it(which could be completely wrong, so take with a grain of salt), there is no actual 'stopping' variants. The idea is to keep tricking your body with mock spike proteins, so that your body builds defenses against it. And data shows the more shots you get, the more your body builds resistance. So when the real thing arrives, it doesn't affect the host as much, if at all.

Is the booster customized for Delta? The article doesn't say.

Re: U.S. plans to begin administering Covid-19 booster shots in September

#24

Post by tboyd47 »

fighterpilot wrote: post #9
tboyd47 wrote: post #8

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Okay, so if the binary thinking is wrong, why stop at three? Why stop at all? Does the science say we just blast our bodies with as much mRNA as we can get away with?

Elementary economic thinking answers this question. Benefits asymptote, so you'll stop at the point where the marginal benefit of an additional shot is less than the marginal financial cost, marginal opportunity cost and marginal cost of side effects all combined. That's definitely not the case before two and may not be the case before three based on data we've seen. It might be the case before four. And this doesn't…

> until COVID mutates into something less deadly perhaps.

How do we know that that hasn't already happened? If we don't know, when will we know?

Re: U.S. plans to begin administering Covid-19 booster shots in September

#25

Post by silisili »

lupire wrote: post #23
silisili wrote: post #7

Earlier quoted context omitted.

As I understand it(which could be completely wrong, so take with a grain of salt), there is no actual 'stopping' variants. The idea is to keep tricking your body with mock spike proteins, so that your body builds defenses against it. And data shows the more shots you get, the more your body builds resistance. So when the real thing arrives, it doesn't affect the host as much, if at all.

Is the booster customized for Delta? The article doesn't say.

The boosters in question are not at this time. Same as other shot.

It's confusing because Pfizer was touting they could modify boosters for variants months ago.

Re: U.S. plans to begin administering Covid-19 booster shots in September

#26

Post by sterlind »

lupire wrote: post #23
silisili wrote: post #7

Earlier quoted context omitted.

As I understand it(which could be completely wrong, so take with a grain of salt), there is no actual 'stopping' variants. The idea is to keep tricking your body with mock spike proteins, so that your body builds defenses against it. And data shows the more shots you get, the more your body builds resistance. So when the real thing arrives, it doesn't affect the host as much, if at all.

Is the booster customized for Delta? The article doesn't say.

No. Pfizer indicated it could develop and begin mass-producing a variant-specific booster within 100 days, if a third dose of the original vaccine is ineffective. [0] But the plan is to use the existing stock.

I'd feel a lot safer if Pfizer started developing a polyvalent booster with mRNA for all significant variants.

0. http://ctmirror.org/2021/08/13/pfizer-ceo-to-public-just-tru...

Re: U.S. plans to begin administering Covid-19 booster shots in September

#27

Post by silent_cal »

revolvingocelot wrote: post #14
halfjoking wrote: post #12

Will the two shot people lose their jobs next year if they refuse the third shot? I’d rather have robust variety of antibodies provided by prior infection than get a leaky vaccine every 8 months. Sucks that I’m going to lose my job for that decision but having a IaaS (Immunity as a Service) subscription from Pharma sounds worse than getting longcovid again.

>I’d rather have robust variety of antibodies provided by prior infection than get a leaky vaccine every 8 months. Sucks that I’m going to lose my job for that decision but having a IaaS (Immunity as a Service) subscription from Pharma sounds worse than getting longcovid again. Er, what? It sounds like you're saying that you'd rather get COVID-resistance from a bout with COVID rather than from a vaccine, but then you…

He's saying he'd rather depend on his natural immunity than be mandatorily jabbed over and over again.

Re: U.S. plans to begin administering Covid-19 booster shots in September

#28

Post by silent_cal »

csb6 wrote: post #19
halfjoking wrote: post #12

Will the two shot people lose their jobs next year if they refuse the third shot? I’d rather have robust variety of antibodies provided by prior infection than get a leaky vaccine every 8 months. Sucks that I’m going to lose my job for that decision but having a IaaS (Immunity as a Service) subscription from Pharma sounds worse than getting longcovid again.

Who said you are going to lose your job? You seem to accept that as a fact, but I’m not sure where you are getting confirmation of this. Are you just assuming that all employers will require you to get a booster shot in the future, even though as of now most employers do not require you to get even a single COVID shot?

People are already losing their jobs over these vaccines.

Re: U.S. plans to begin administering Covid-19 booster shots in September

#29

Post by silisili »

tboyd47 wrote: post #8
fighterpilot wrote: post #6

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This binary thinking is wrong. Nobody thinks three shots will "stop" the delta variant. They think it'll lower the number of severe cases and deaths.

Okay, so if the binary thinking is wrong, why stop at three? Why stop at all? Does the science say we just blast our bodies with as much mRNA as we can get away with?

Assuming you are asking earnestly, because of diminishing returns. Pfizer has been found to be 90 something percent effective at 2 months. They've noticed it seems to lose about 3% effectiveness per month, leaving you at 70-something percent after 8 months. That's with the data we have today, it could be much higher or lower as more data is collected.

To preemptively answer your question - yes, I could see needing to get a booster every 8 months for the foreseeable future.

Re: U.S. plans to begin administering Covid-19 booster shots in September

#30

Post by tinus_hn »

criticaltinker wrote: post #10

> Global health leaders including Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, director-general of the World Health Organization, have pleaded with developed countries not to administer boosters given that most of the world’s population hasn’t received even a single dose. [1] > U.S regulators authorized a third dose of COVID-19 vaccines by Pfizer Inc (PFE.N)-BioNTech and Moderna Inc (MRNA.O) on Friday for people with compromised immu…

All we need to do is quarantine the developed world for just a little longer..
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